Three Italian astrophysicists, headed by Prof. Filippo Frontera from the University of Ferrara, visited the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) and participated in a four-day workshop on the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT) mission and several other future space astrophysics projects, from July 12 to 15. More than 30 scholars from IHEP attended the workshop.

Prof. ZHANG Shuangnan, the chief scientist of the HXMT project, opened the workshop by welcoming the participants. The main features of the HXMT mission and related open issues were presented and discussed in the workshop. The experience acquired with Italian satellite BeppoSAX and its relevance to HXMT were given by the Bologna/Ferrara groups in a series of talks. Some possible further collaboration details were discussed and a Memorandum of Understanding was signed to enhance collaboration over a wider range of activities.

IHEP and Italian astrophysicists explore collaboration on space projects (Image by IHEP)