A ground-level enhancement (GLE) event was observed by neutron detectors designed for the registration of extensive air showers (EASs) at the Experimental Complex (EC) NEVOD. The potential for that was unlocked by a recent modernization of the experimental setup that included implementation of additional channels for measuring neutron flux variation. At 10:15 UT on 2025 November 11, a sudden and significant increase in the neutron flux was detected by two installations: PRISMA-36 and URAN arrays. For the first time, a GLE has been recorded using a set of neutron detectors oriented at the EAS studies. We present the measured EC NEVOD data and the results of the preliminary analysis of the observed GLE.

The scientific and technological base of muography researches using emulsion detectors, including the equipment and software, is developed and actively used in Russia by the MISIS, NRU MEPhI, SINP MSU and LPI RAS collaboration. The article presents a number of experiments performed with the emulsion muography and illustrates the major stages of the method development and improvement.

A new method for studying cosmic ray anisotropy by means of muon bundle detection at the Earth’s surface is described. An important advantage of this method is a simple way to compensate the atmospheric effects in the counting rate of muon bundles. Seasonal and diurnal variations of the muon bundle counting rate are almost completely eliminated by using only one atmospheric parameter. For the first time, the muon multiplicity in the detected bundles was used to estimate the dependence of the anisotropy amplitude on the primary energy. Parameters of the cosmic ray dipole anisotropy were obtained for two average logarithmic values of primary energies of 1 and 5 PeV.

From 2012 to 2023, the PRISMA-32 array operated at the Experimental Complex NEVOD (MEPhI, Moscow). The purpose of the array was to study extensive air showers detecting their neutron and electron-photon components using unshielded neutron detectors. To expand the capabilities of this facility, including the study of cosmic and geophysical phenomena with a neutron flux, its upgrade was carried out. In this upgrade, a measurement channel to study the variations of the neutron background and the processes affecting them was added. To achieve this, the photomultipliers, the integrating amplifiers, the digitalizing electronics and the high-voltage power supply system were replaced. The paper describes the structure of the upgraded array, which was named PRISMA-36, and presents the results of studying the characteristics of the main elements of its "variation" channel. A method for identifying signals caused by neutron capture and the determined criteria for their selection are discussed. An example of a Forbush decrease, caused by a X1.1-class flare and recorded with the variation channel of the PRISMA-36 array, is given.

It has been previously demonstrated by Panov et al. (2021) that the TAIGA-HiSCORE Cherenkov array, originally built for cosmic ray physics and ultrahigh-energy gamma-ray astronomy studies using the extensive air shower method, can be used in conventional optical astronomy for wide-field searches for rare nanosecond optical transients of astrophysical origin. The field of view of the facility is on the scale of 1 ster, and it is capable of detecting very rare transients in the visible light range with fluxes greater than approximately 3000 quanta/m2/10 ns (10 ns is the apparatus integration time) and pulse durations of 10 ns. Among the potential sources of distant nanosecond optical transients are the evaporation of primary black holes, magnetic reconnection in the accretion disks of black holes, and signals from distant lasers of extraterrestrial civilizations. The paper describes the methods and results of the search for optical transients using the TAIGA-HiSCORE Cherenkov array from 2018 to 2022 (four winter seasons of data collection). No reliable astrophysical candidates for optical transients were found. We set an upper bound on the flux of the searched events as ∼ 1pt 1 ×10^ - 3 events/ster/h.

A hybrid muon hodoscope for muonography of large-scale objects was created at the Scientific and Educational Center NEVOD (MEPhI). The hodoscope multichannel detection system consists of a scintillation strip detector and a drift tube detector and is designed to record tracks of charged particles, mainly muons. The scintillation strip detector is an independent track detector that forms the initial track position and the trigger signal for the drift tube detector. The article describes the design of a scintillation strip detector and principles of operation of the readout electronics and also provides the main technical characteristics.

A trigger system of the Experimental Complex NEVOD (EC NEVOD) unique scientific facility is described. Detectors and setups that differ in area, physical principles of detection, and background counting rate are included in the EC NEVOD to detect various components of cosmic rays. Each detector is equipped with its own original data-acquisition and trigger system and is able to operate independently. In addition, the detectors are all combined by a single system of data triggering and synchronization. Features of the individual detector systems, their main characteristics and methods of their initialization and integration are presented.

The paper is devoted to the modeling and analysis of data detected by the TAIGA-IACT installation in the stereo mode. Five Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACT) with a viewing angle of 9.6° are expected to be included in the installation. Today there are three telescopes spaced far apart (from 320 to 500 m) in the installation. The effective area of the installation is as large as 0.6 km2; therefore, it is possible to conduct statistically significant measurements of weak γ-ray sources in the energy range above 10 TeV over a reasonable observation time (300–400 h). The Monte Carlo procedure for simulating the hadrons and γ-rays detected by the telescopes is described as is the procedure for reconstructing the parameters of extensive air showers, such as the arrival direction of an event, the axis position, the depth of the maximum of shower development (Xmax), and the primary-particle energy. In order to solve the problem of γ-hadron separation, the criteria for selecting γ-rays detected in the stereo mode have been optimized and the effective area of the installation has been calculated.

In this paper, we describe the quasi-spherical optical module QSM-6M to detect Cherenkov radiation in water. The module is based on six photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) with flat photocathodes Hamamatsu R877. We discuss the results of the photomultiplier testing, as well as the choice of the high-voltage divider providing the PMT dynamic range from 1 to 105 photoelectrons. The techniques for studying QSM-6M characteristics, as well as the results of the underwater testing of the module for an 18-month period are presented. We also present the results of the analysis of the QSM-6M response to single-muon and multiparticle events detected by the installations of the Experimental Complex NEVOD.

Parameters of extensive air showers detected by the facilities of the NEVOD Experimental Complex are analyzed and compared with events simulated. The calibration and energy threshold of the NEVOD-EAS detector are discussed, as well as the results of retrieval of the axis directions from the NEVOD-EAS and DECOR data. An example of the event detected by all facilities of the complex is given.

The data of cosmic ray NEVOD-DECOR experiment on the investigation of inclined muon bundles for a long time period (May 2012 - March 2021) are presented. The analysis showed that the observed intensity of muon bundles at primary cosmic ray energies of about 1 EeV and higher can be compatible with the expectation in frame of widely used hadron interaction models only under the assumption of an extremely heavy mass composition. This conclusion is consistent with data of several experiments on investigations of muon content in air showers, but contradicts the available fluorescence data on X_{max} Xmax which favor a light mass composition at these energies. In order to clarify the nature of the "muon puzzle", investigations of the muon bundle energy deposit in the detector material were carried out. For the first time, experimental estimates of the average energy of muons in the bundles of inclined air showers initiated by primary particles with energies from 10 to 1000 PeV have been obtained.

The more correct recalculation from the measured Cherenkov light fluxes at distances of 200 (Q200) and 100 (Q100) m from the Extensive Air Shower (EAS) core to the energy of the primary particle has been developed using the results of M-C simulation by the CORSIKA code, assuming a light primary composition of cosmic rays. Using the new conversion expressions, a differential energy spectrum was obtained according to the data of the Tunka-133 array for 7 years of operation and the TAIGA-HiSCORE array for 2 years of operation.

A possibility to implement in well-known program CORSIKA user-made changes connected with heavy particles’ production in nucleus–nucleus interactions is considered. Program PYTHIA8.3 and the developed interface between it and CORSIKA are used for that. It is shown that implementation of PYTHIA leads to the increase in the number of muons at the ground level ( ∼6% ) and electrons (up to 10 % ). At the same time, the introduction of the top quark in first nucleus–nucleus collisions does not result in the increase of the number of particles in extensive air showers at the ground level.

In this paper we discuss the calibration of the NEVOD-EAS array which is a part of the Experimental Complex NEVOD, as well as the results of studying the response features of its scintillation detectors. We present the results of the detectors energy calibration, performed by comparing their response to different types of particles obtained experimentally and simulated with the Geant4 software package, as well as of the measurements of their timing resolution. We also discuss the results of studies of the light collection non-uniformity of the NEVOD-EAS detectors and of the accuracy of air-shower arrival direction reconstruction, which have been performed using other facilities of the Experimental Complex NEVOD: the muon hodoscope URAGAN and the muon tracking detector DECOR.

In this work, we use muon bundles, which are formed in extensive air showers and detected at the ground level, as a tool for searching for anisotropy in high-energy cosmic rays. Such choice is explained by the penetrating ability of muons that allows them to retain the direction of primary particles with good accuracy. In 2012–2022, we performed long-term muon-bundle detection with the coordinate-tracking detector DECOR, which is a part of the Experimental Complex NEVOD (MEPhI, Moscow). To search for cosmic-ray anisotropy, muon bundles arriving at zenith angles in the range from 15° to 75° in the local coordinate system are used. During the entire period of data taking, about 14 million of such events have been accumulated. In this paper, we describe some methods developed in the Experimental Complex NEVOD and implemented in our research, including: the method for compensating for the influence of meteorological conditions on the intensity of muon bundles at the Earth’s surface, the method for accounting for the design features of the detector and the inhomogeneity of the detection efficiency for different directions, as well as the method for estimating the primary energies of cosmic rays. Here we present the results of the search for the dipole anisotropy of cosmic rays with energies in the PeV region and also compare them with the results obtained at other scientific facilities.

The Tunka Advanced Instrument for Gamma-ray and cosmic ray Astrophysics (TAIGA) is a hybrid experiment for the measurement of Extensive Air Showers (EAS) with good spectral resolution in the TeV to PeV energy range. In this domain, the long-sought Pevatrons can be detected. Currently the hybrid TAIGA detector combines two wide angle shower front Cherenkov light sampling timing arrays (HiSCORE and Tunka-133), two 4m class, 10 degrees aperture Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) and 240 m(2) surface and underground charged particle detector stations. Our goal is to introduce a new hybrid reconstruction technique, combining the good angular and shower core resolution of HiSCORE with the gamma-hadron separation power of imaging telescopes. This approach allows to maximize the effective area and simultaneously to reach a good gamma-hadron separation at low energies (few TeV). At higher energies, muon detectors are planned to enhance gamma-hadron separation. During the commissioning phase of the first and second IACT, several sources were observed. First detections of known sources with the first telescope show the functionality of the TAIGA IACTs. Here, the status of the TAIGA experiment will be presented, along with first results from the current configuration.

New method of investigation of atmospheric fronts by means of cosmic ray muon flux is considered. The method is based on searches of changes in the muon flux in the atmosphere, caused by waves from atmospheric fronts. For search of such waves 105 atmospheric fronts passing over Moscow were analyzed. The method allows determining the directions of the waves and their periods.

An analysis is performed of the spectrum of gamma rays from the Crab Nebula in the 4–100 TeV range of energies, obtained using data from two Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes that are part of the TAIGA complex. A way of selecting and restoring the energy of gamma rays is described that includes a procedure for restoring the energy spectrum.

A new approach to analyzing the intensity of the muon flux from different azimuthal directions is proposed that allows the detection of waves from large-scale atmospheric phenomena (fronts, thunderstorm cells) in the atmosphere.