Strong LensIng and Cluster Evolution (SLICE) with JWST: Early Results, Lens Models, and High-redshift Detections

We leverage JWST’s superb resolution to derive strong-lensing mass maps of 14 clusters, spanning a redshift range of z ∼ 0.25–1.06 and a mass range of M ₅₀₀ ∼ 2–12 × 10¹⁴ M _⊙, from the Strong LensIng and Cluster Evolution (SLICE) JWST program. These clusters represent a small subsample of the first clusters observed in the SLICE program that are chosen based on the detection of new multiple-image constraints in the SLICE JWST NIRCam/F150W2 and F322W2 imaging. These constraints include new lensed dusty galaxies and new substructures in previously identified lensed background galaxies. Four clusters have never been modeled before. For the remaining 10 clusters, we present updated models based on JWST and Hubble Space Telescope imaging and, where available, ground-based spectroscopy. We model the global mass profile for each cluster and report the masses enclosed within 200 and 500 kpc. We report the number of new lensed source galaxies identified in the JWST imaging, which in one cluster is as high as 19 new lensed galaxies. The addition of new lensed source galaxies and constraints from substructure clumps improves the ability of strong-lensing models to accurately reproduce the interior mass distribution of each cluster. We also report the discovery of a candidate transient in a lensed image of the galaxy cluster SPT-CL J0516-5755. All lens models and their associated products are available for download at the Strong Lensing Cluster Atlas Data Base (https://data.lam.fr/sl-cluster-atlas/), which is hosted at Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille.