The MONOLITH prototype

MONOLITH (Massive Observatory for Neutrino Oscillation or LImits on THeir existence) is the project of an experiment to study atmospheric neutrino oscillations 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 Resistive Plate Chambers (glass RPCs) developed at the Laboratori Nazionali del 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 resolution for pions follows a 68%/ E( GeV) +2% law for orthogonally incident particles, 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 experiment.