The MONOLITH prototype

MONOLITH (Massive Observatory for Neutrino Oscillation or LImits on THeir e xistence) is the project of an experiment to study atmospheric neutrino osc illations with a massive magnetized iron detector. The baseline option is a 34 kt iron detector based on the use of about 50 000 m(2) of the glass Res istive Plate Chambers (glass RPCs) developed at the Laboratori Nazionali de l Gran Sasso (LNGS). An 8 ton prototype equipped with 23 m(2) of glass RPC has been realized and tested at the T7-PS beam at CERN. The energy resoluti on for pions follows a 68%/rootE(GeV) + 2% law for orthogonally incident pa rticles, in the energy range between 2 and 10 GeV. The time resolution and the tracking capability of the glass RPC are suitable for the MONOLITH expe riment. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.