SLICE: Unveiling the Multi-Component Merging Core of SPT-CLJ1150-2805 Through Strong-Lensing Mass Modelling
We present a new strong-lensing and X-ray mass model of the merging galaxy cluster SPT-CLJ1150-2805 ($z=0.383$), combining JWST NIRCam, HST, Chandra, and VLT/MUSE data to robustly decompose its collisionless and collisional components. Exploiting JWST, we expand the multiple-image catalogue with 66 new images (30 comprising 6 new systems). Our baseline model uses 118 spectroscopically confirmed images from 20 systems, achieving an image-plane root-mean-square offset of $0.56''$. An expanded model incorporating 31 additional photometric images from 8 additional systems yields a near-identical mass distribution, confirming excellent model stability. We resolve a complex multi-axis post-merger system requiring five cluster-scale dark matter haloes, including a bimodal core with distinct haloes coincident with each brightest cluster galaxy. The remaining mass components are independently supported by kinematics of 291 cluster members ($σ_v=1960^{+84}_{-92}$ km s$^{-1}$), which reveal two new galaxy substructures - the northernmost of which we tentatively identify as the baryonic counterpart to our fifth dark matter halo. The cluster is an extraordinarily efficient lens, possessing an effective Einstein radius $θ_E=42.41^{+0.05}_{-0.04}{''}$ and an enclosed mass $M(<θ_E)=3.35^{+0.04}_{-0.03}\times10^{14}M_\odot$ for a source at $z_s=2$. For a high-redshift source at $z_s=9$, it produces a magnification cross-section of $A(>10)\simeq0.15$ arcmin$^2$ and $A(>30)\simeq0.020$ arcmin$^2$. This global lensing power surpasses all Hubble Frontier Fields clusters. In a regime where systematic uncertainties between mass models dominate high-redshift magnification errors, the stability of our reconstruction sets this lens apart. This combination of extreme lensing power and a robust mass model establishes SPT-CLJ1150-2805 as a premier cosmic telescope for high-redshift studies.