International Symposium on Ten Years of the Insight-HXMT Mission
Celebrating a Decade of Discovery and Charting the Future
We are pleased to announce the International Symposium on Ten Years of the Insight-HXMT Mission, commemorating the tenth anniversary of the launch of China's Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope. The symposium will bring together scientists from around the world to review the mission's remarkable achievements and to discuss issues of scientific problems stimulated by Insight-HXMT observations and future synergy with eXTP and other leading facilities.
About Insight-HXMT
Launched in June 2017, Insight-HXMT is China's first X-ray astronomical satellite. Distinguished by its unprecedentedly broad energy coverage 一 spanning soft X-rays to ~250 keV, with its burst monitor reaching up to ~3 MeV一 and its large effective area in the hard X-ray band, the largest of any currently operating X-ray mission, Insight-HXMT has opened a unique observational window onto the high-energy universe.
The mission's distinctive combination of high cadence, high photon statistics, high time resolution, and large collecting area has enabled breakthrough studies of the radiation mechanisms of explosive events from compact objects under extreme gravitational and magnetic field conditions, including:
1, Detailed spectral and temporal studies of black hole binaries across accretion states
2, Measurements of cyclotron resonance scattering features from highly magnetized neutron stars
3, Precise probes of accretion environments through thermonuclear bursts
4. Broadband monitoring of extremely violent events (GRB, FRB, etc.)
Over the past decade, these capabilities have yielded a rich harvest of important scientific results, cementing Insight-HXMT's role as a cornerstone of time-domain high-energy astrophysics.
Looking Forward: Insight-HXMT + eXTP and Multi-Messenger Synergies
Looking ahead, the continued operation of Insight-HXMT, together with the advent of eXTP — offering unprecedented sensitivity, X-ray polarimetry, and spectral-timing capabilities — will establish one of the world's most powerful networks for high-energy astrophysics. This effort will be further strengthened through international cooperation with existing X-ray observatories, including IXPE, XRISM, and SRG, exploiting their complementary scientific capabilities.
Equally promising is the development of an integrated multi-wavelength and multi-messenger strategy, combining the optical and high-energy capabilities of SVOM, the all-sky monitoring of GECAM, the wide-field X-ray surveys of Einstein Probe (EP), and the very-high-energy gamma-ray observations of LHAASO. Together with Insight-HXMT and eXTP, these facilities will provide unprecedented opportunities to explore the transient and extreme Universe — from GRBs and FRBs to compact objects, relativistic jets, and Galactic cosmic-ray accelerators — and to identify electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational-wave and neutrino events.
This symposium will provide a strategic forum to establish a shared scientific roadmap, identify the most compelling scientific priorities, develop coordinated observing strategies and joint programs, and promote effective mechanisms for rapid follow-up, data sharing, and international collaboration.
Conference Topics (4 days)
1. Black hole X-ray binaries
Accretion physics and outburst evolution
Outflow and jet
Time variability and QPO puzzle
Black hole spin and mass
2. Neutron stars
Outburst of NS X-ray binaries and strong magnetic field physics
Thermonuclear bursts and LMXRB
Isolated pulsars and magnetars
Applications with Insight-HXMT observations
3. Extremely violent events:
Gamma-ray bursts and Fast radio bursts
Other extremely violent events (GW , TGF, Solar flares, etc.)
4. Multi-Messenger Synergies and new mission concepts
Joint observing strategies: Insight-HXMT, SVOM, GECAM, EP and eXTP
New mission concepts
Round table: Key scientific open issues and future ideas of missions
Call for Contributions
The program will consist of invited talks (30 min), solicited talks (20 min), and contributed talks (15 min) . We invite abstract submissions for oral presentations and posters, that will be presented in flash-talks (3 min). There is no registration fee for the conference. Please register and submit your abstract via the conference websitehttps://indico.ihep.ac.cn/event/31203/.
Important date:
Registration and abstract submission opened: 1 December 2026
Deadline for abstract submission: 1 March 2027
Deadline for online registration: 1 June 2027
On-site registration: 14 June 2027
Conference start: 15 June 2027
Conference end: 18 June 2027
Conference venue:
Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Meals and recommended accommodation:
Lunches (June 15-18) and one conference banquet (June 15 evening) will be provided.
Recommended hotel for the oversea participants: Holiday Inn.
Recommended hotels for the domestic participants: IHEP guest house.
Scientific Organizing Committee (SOC)
Tipei Li (Honorary chair), Yidong Gu, Shuangnan Zhang (Chair), Andrea Santangelo (Chair), Cosimo Bambi, Hua Feng, Filippo Frontera, Lijun Gou, Adam Ingram, Xiangdong Li, Lin Lin, QingCui Bu, YaNan Wang, Qingzhong Liu, Mendez Mariano, Sergey Tsygankov, Wei Wang, Jianyan Wei, Xuefeng Wu, Shaolin Xiong, Renxin Xu, Yefei Yuan, Weimin Yuan, Shu Zhang
Local Organizing Committee (LOC):
Shu Zhang (Chair) , Liqiao Yin (Secretary), Yupeng Chen, Xiaobo Li, Hongwei Liu, Yue Sun, Qianqing Yin, Fan Zhang, Liang Zhang, Zhen Zhang