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At the beginning of 2010, we presented at the J-PARC PAC an R&D program towards large (100 kton scale) liquid argon TPCs, suitable to investigate, in conjunction with the J-PARC neutrino beam, the possibility of CP violation in the neutrino sector and to search for nucleon decay. As a first step we proposed a test experiment to identify and measure charged kaons, including their decays, in liquid argon. The detector, a 250L LAr TPC, is exposed to charged kaons, in a momentum range of 540 – 800 MeV/c, in the K1.1BR beamline of the J-PARC slow extraction facility. This is especially important to estimate efficiency and background for nucleon decay searches in the charged kaon mode (p → K+, etc.), where the kaon momentum is expected to be in the few hundred MeV/c range. A prototype setup has been exposed in the K1.1BR beamline in the fall of 2010. This paper describes the capabilities of the beamline, the construction and setting up of the detector prototype, along with some preliminary results.

The Okinoshima Islands are located on an off-axis of 0.76 degree (almost on-axis) with the same neutrino beam setting as T2K (2.5 degree off- axis to Kamioka). The distance of Okinoshima from the neutrino source, KEK/J-PARC, is 658 km. This configuration enables to conduct precision measurement of the 1st and 2nd neutrino oscillation maxima of the appearance electron neutrino energy spectrum. We have made studies of the Okinoshima Island site from the geological, geographic and infrastructure points of view to investigate the possibility of building a large underground cavern there to install a 100 kton class Giant Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (TPC) detector for a neutrino oscillation and proton decay experiment. We have found that the Okinoshima Island site is a good candidate site for such an observatory.

The Argon Dark Matter (ArDM-1t) experiment is a ton-scale liquid argon (LAr) double-phase time projection chamber designed for direct Dark Matter searches. Such a device allows to explore the low energy frontier in LAr with a charge imaging detector. The ionization charge is extracted from the liquid into the gas phase and there amplified by the use of a Large Electron Multiplier in order to reduce the detection threshold. Direct detection of the ionization charge with fine spatial granularity, combined with a measurement of the amplitude and time evolution of the associated primary scintillation light, provide powerful tools for the identification of WIMP interactions against the background due to electrons, photons and possibly neutrons if scattering more than once. A one ton LAr detector is presently installed on surface at CERN to fully test all functionalities and it will be soon moved to an underground location. We will emphasize here the lessons learned from such a device for the design of a large LAr TPC for neutrino oscillation, proton decay and astrophysical neutrinos searches. Comment: To appear in Proceedings 1st International Workshop towards the Giant Liquid Argon Charge Imaging Experiment (GLA2010), Tsukuba, March 2010

In this paper we present a successful experimental test of filling a volume of 6 m$^3$ with argon gas, starting from normal ambient air and reducing the impurities content down to few parts per million (ppm) oxygen equivalent. This level of contamination was directly monitored measuring the slow component of the scintillation light of the Ar gas, which is sensitive to {\it all} sources of impurities affecting directly the argon scintillation. Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Proc. 1st International Workshop towards the Giant Liquid Argon Charge Imaging Experiment (GLA2010), Tsukuba, March 2010

Designs of high-voltage (HV) systems for creating a drift electric field in liquid argon TPCs are reviewed. In ongoing experiments systems capable of approx. 100 kV are realised for a drift field of 0.5-1 kV/cm over a length of up to 1.5 m. Two of them having different approaches are presented: (1) the ICARUS-T600 detector having a system consisting of an external power supply, HV feedthroughs and resistive voltage degraders and (2) the ArDM-1t detector having a cryogenic Greinacher HV multiplier inside the liquid argon volume. For a giant scale liquid argon TPC, a system providing 2 MV may be required to attain a drift length of approx. 20 m. Feasibility of such a system is evaluated by extrapolating the existing designs. Comment: 8 pages, 13 figures, to appear in Proc. of 1st International Workshop towards the Giant Liquid Argon Charge Imaging Experiment (GLA2010), Tsukuba (Japan), March 2010

Tests with cosmic ray muons of a small liquid argon time projection chamber (LAr TPC) in a magnetic field of 0.55 T are described. No effect of the magnetic field on the imaging properties were observed. In view of a future large, magnetized LAr TPC, we investigated the possibility to operate a high temperature superconducting (HTS) solenoid directly in the LAr of the detector. The critical current $I_c$ of HTS cables in an external magnetic field was measured at liquid nitrogen and liquid argon temperatures and a small prototype HTS solenoid was built and tested. Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Proc. of 1st International Workshop towards the Giant Liquid Argon Charge Imaging Experiment (GLA2010), Tsukuba (Japan), March 2010

In this paper we present results from a test of a small Liquid Argon Large Electron Multiplier Time Projection Chamber (LAr LEM-TPC). This detector concept provides a 3D-tracking and calorimetric device capable of charge amplification, suited for next-generation neutrino detectors and possibly direct Dark Matter searches. During a test of a 3~lt chamber equipped with a 10$\times$10~cm$^2$ readout, cosmic muon data was recorded during three weeks of data taking. A maximum gain of 6.5 was achieved and the liquid argon was kept pure enough to ensure 20~cm drift (O(ppb)~O$_2$ equivalent). Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Proc. of 1st International Workshop towards the Giant Liquid Argon Charge Imaging Experiment (GLA2010), Tsukuba (Japan), March 2010

The realization of a 100 kton LAr TPC demands concrete R&D in several areas. Although rightly relying on pioneering efforts performed up to now, in particular within the ICARUS programme, it cannot be simply linearly extrapolated from the current state-of-art. The GLA2010 workshop is intended to be the first of a series of workshops dedicated to these issues, which was initiated to bring together researchers having common interest in realizing a giant neutrino observatory based on the liquid Argon time projection chamber technology combining next-generation searches for proton decay and neutrino physics with natural and artificial sources. In this talk, I would like to present my personal collection of some results presented at this workshop and give an outlook on future options.