  In early 2010, the Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE) science
collaboration initiated a study to investigate the physics potential of the
experiment with a broad set of different beam, near- and far-detector
configurations. Nine initial topics were identified as scientific areas that
motivate construction of a long-baseline neutrino experiment with a very large
far detector. We summarize the scientific justification for each topic and the
estimated performance for a set of far detector reference configurations. We
report also on a study of optimized beam parameters and the physics capability
of proposed Near Detector configurations. This document was presented to the
collaboration in fall 2010 and updated with minor modifications in early 2011.
