Speaker
Description
In recent years, the combination of dedicated HST programs on lensing massive clusters (CLASH, HFF) and extensive VLT spectroscopy (particularly with the MUSE integral-field spectrograph), has led to the effective exploitation of these systems as gravitational telescopes and accurate probes of the inner mass distribution of dark matter (DM) halos. In addition, these data together with time delay measurements have opened competitive cosmographic applications based on cluster strong lensing (measurement of the Hubble constant and other cosmological parameters). The key to this wide-range exploitation is the construction of high-precision strong-lensing models based on the secure identification of >~100 multiple images. We will show how MAVIS imaging and spectroscopic capabilities can give a decisive contribution to this endeavour in the years to come.
