The ICARUS Experiment, A Second-Generation Proton Decay Experiment and Neutrino Observatory at the Gran Sasso Laboratory

The final phase of the ICARUS physics program requires a sensitive mass of liquid Argon of 5000 tons or more. The T600 detector stands today as the first living proof that such large detector can be built and that liquid Argon imaging technology can be implemented on such large scales. After the successful completion of a series of technical tests to be performed at the assembly hall in Pavia, the T600 detector will be ready to be transported into the LNGS tunnel. The operation of the T600 at the LNGS will allow us (1) to develop the local infrastructure needed to operate our large detector (2) to start the handling of the underground liquid argon technology (3) to study the local background (4) to start the data taking with an initial liquid argon mass that will reach in a 5-6 year program the multi-kton goal. The T600 is to be considered as the first milestone on the road towards a total sensitive mass of 5000 tons: it is the first piece of the detector to be complemented by further modules of appropriate size and dimensions, in order to reach in a most efficient and rapid way the final design mass. In this document, we describe the physics program that will be accomplished within the first phase of the program.