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The European Strategy for Particle Physics of 2013 classified the short and long baseline neutrino program as one of the four highest-priority scientific objectives with required international infrastructure. In this framework, CERN has created a \"Neutrino Platform\" for detector R&D and support to future international neutrino experiments, as well as to provide a basis for European neutrino communities towards contributing to the US and Japanese projects. In particular, significant R&D effort is made on the Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber technologies. As a part of the Neutrino Platform facilities, CERN is constructing a large test area (EHN1 extension of the SPS North Area) with charged beams capabilities devoted to neutrino detectors. An overview will be given of the main Liquid Argon neutrino detector projects presently under development in the framework of the CERN Neutrino platform.

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is the next very large scale neutrino science and proton decay experiment. DUNE will consist of large-scale near and far detectors. The core elements of these detector systems are liquid argon Time Projection Chambers (LAr TPCs) and light readout systems. Two prototype far detectors were built and operated at CERN Neutrino Platform and extensive developments are underway for improved and upgraded detectors. In order to evaluate various design alternatives and validate new concepts of light readout related to large-scale LAr detectors, we have performed several experiments with a fifty liter liquid argon TPC at CERN. Among the long list of configurations we probed, study of various wavelength shifters, operation in dual phase mode and Xe and N 2 doping under different scenarios can be listed. Here we report on the details of the various test campaigns and discuss our findings and their impact on the design and operational parameters.

Monte Carlo shower simulations are essential for understanding and predicting the consequences of beam losses in high-energy proton and ion colliders. Shower simulations are routinely used at CERN for estimating the beam-induced energy deposition, radiation damage, and radioactivity in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Comparing these shower simulations against beam loss measurements is an important prerequisite for assessing the predictive ability of model calculations. This paper validates fluka simulation predictions of beam loss monitor (BLM) signals against BLM measurements from proton fills at 3.5 and 4 TeV andPb20882+ion fills at1.38ATeV. The paper addresses typical loss scenarios and loss mechanisms encountered in LHC operation, including proton collisions with dust particles liberated into the beams, halo impact on collimators in the betatron cleaning insertion, proton-proton collisions in the interaction points, and dispersive losses due to bound-free pair production in heavy ion collisions. Model predictions and measured signals generally match within a few tens of percent, although systematic differences were found to be as high as a factor of 3 for some regions and source terms.

Analytical formulae for the calculation of secondary particle yields in p-A interactions are given. These formulae can be of great practical importance for fast calculations of neutrino fluxes and for designing new neutrino beam-lines. The formulae are based on a parameterization of the inclusive invariant cross sections for secondary particle production measured in p-Be interactions. Data collected in different energy ranges and kinematic regions are used. The accuracy of the fit to the data with the empirical formulae adopted is within the experimental uncertainties. Prescriptions to extrapolate this parameterization to finite targets and to targets of different materials are given. The results obtained are then used as an input for the simulation of neutrino beams. We show that our approach describes well the main characteristics of measured neutrino spectra at CERN. Thus it may be used in fast simulations aiming at the optimisation of the long-baseline neutrino beams at CERN and FNAL. In particular we will show our predictions for the CNGS beam from CERN to Gran Sasso.

Cryogenic noble liquid detectors are presently considered one of the best options for WIMP Dark Matter searches, especially when extensions to multi ton scale sensitive masses are foreseen. The WArP experiment is the first one that exploits the unique characteristics of liquid Argon to make a highly sensitive search for WIMP Dark Matter candidates. In 2008, a double phase detector has been assembled in the Gran Sasso National Laboratory with 140 kg sensitive mass and a discovery potential in the range of 5 × 10-45 cm2 in the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross-section. In addition to standard neutrons and gamma-rays passive shields, WArP implements an 8 ton liquid Argon active shield with 4p coverage. The detector was commissioned and put into operation during the first half of 2009 for a first technical run. Detector design, construction and assembly are described, together with the very first results of this technical run.

Cryogenic noble liquid detectors are presently considered one of the best options for WIMP Dark Matter searches, especially when extensions to multi ton scale sensitive masses are foreseen. The WArP experiment is the first one that exploits the unique characteristics of liquid Argon to make a highly sensitive search for WIMP Dark Matter candidates. In 2008, a double phase detector has been assembled in the Gran Sasso National Laboratory with 140 kg sensitive mass and a discovery potential in the range of 5 × 10−45 cm2 in the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross-section. In addition to standard neutrons and gamma-rays passive shields, WArP implements an 8 ton liquid Argon active shield with 4π coverage. The detector was commissioned and put into operation during the first half of 2009 for a first technical run. This first run lasted about three months and then it was stopped for some detector repairs and modifications in the summer of 2009. A second run was started at the beginning of 2010. Detector design, construction and assembly are described, together with the results of the technical run and the very first results of the 2010 run.

We report an updated result from the ICARUS experiment on the search for ν μ → ν e anomalies with the CNGS beam, produced at CERN with an average energy of 20 GeV and traveling 730 km to the Gran Sasso Laboratory. The present analysis is based on a total sample of 1995 events of CNGS neutrino interactions, which corresponds to an almost doubled sample with respect to the previously published result. Four clear ν e events have been visually identified over the full sample, compared with an expectation of 6.4±0.9 events from conventional sources. The result is compatible with the absence of additional anomalous contributions. At 90 % and 99 % confidence levels, the limits to possible oscillated events are 3.7 and 8.3 respectively. The corresponding limit to oscillation probability becomes consequently 3.4×10 −3 and 7.6×10 −3 , respectively. The present result confirms, with an improved sensitivity, the early result already published by the ICARUS Collaboration.

To assess whether amyloid plaque accumulation in the monkey brain can account for age-related cognitive impairment that begins at about 20 years of age, we measured plaque content in the brains of 14 rhesus monkeys aged 5-30 years. We used immunohistochemistry employing the monoclonal antibody 6E10, which is specific to amino acids 1-17 of the amyloid beta peptide to identify amyloid plaques in serial coronal sections of the forebrain. Amyloid plaques accumulate with age, starting at 25 years of age and escalating after 30 years. Until the age of 30, plaques are only found in a few monkeys and are relatively sparse. Results from our group and others show that plaque content and the proportion of individuals afflicted with amyloid plaques increase with age. Although both cognitive dysfunction and plaque content increase with age, amyloid plaque content does not correlate with the cognitive dysfunction observed in elderly monkeys since even in very old subjects some cognitively impaired animals have few amyloid plaques and others with abundant plaques show only minor cognitive impairments. In summary, amyloid plaques appear to accumulate significantly only in monkeys over 25 years of age but do not appear to be a causal factor in age-related cognitive decline of the normal aging rhesus monkey.

The LSND experiment has observed a 3.8 sigma excess of e events from an μ beam coming from pions at rest. If confirmed, the LSND anomaly would imply new physics beyond the standard model. The MiniBooNE experiment shows a 1.6 σ disagreement with LSND results, but it introduces an unexplained, new 3.0 sigma anomaly at lower energies, down to 200 MeV. The proposal for a new eperiment based on two liquidArgon TPCs at CERN-PS is presented in this paper. The superior quality of the Liquid Argon imaging TPC and its unique electron – pi-zero discrimination allow full rejection of the NC background, without efficiency loss for electron neutrino detection. The use of two detectors at a near and a far location enables to minimize the effects of systematic uncertainties related to the neutrino beam and to the neutrino cross-sections. This experiment could collect 106 charged current events in two years data taking, thus allowing for a high priecision and high statistics study of the LSND and MiniBoone anomalies

We report an early result from the ICARUS experiment on the search for a ν μ → ν e signal due to the LSND anomaly. The search was performed with the ICARUS T600 detector located at the Gran Sasso Laboratory, receiving CNGS neutrinos from CERN at an average energy of about 20 GeV, after a flight path of ∼730 km. The LSND anomaly would manifest as an excess of ν e events, characterized by a fast energy oscillation averaging approximately to with probability . The present analysis is based on 1091 neutrino events, which are about 50 % of the ICARUS data collected in 2010–2011. Two clear ν e events have been found, compared with the expectation of 3.7±0.6 events from conventional sources. Within the range of our observations, this result is compatible with the absence of a LSND anomaly. At 90 % and 99 % confidence levels the limits of 3.4 and 7.3 events corresponding to oscillation probabilities and are set respectively. The result strongly limits the window of open options for the LSND anomaly to a narrow region around (Δ m 2 ,sin 2 (2 θ )) new =(0.5 eV 2 ,0.005), where there is an overall agreement (90 % CL) between the present ICARUS limit, the published limits of KARMEN and the published positive signals of LSND and MiniBooNE Collaborations.