2012MNRAS.419..656C

This paper presents the full Very Large Telescope (VLT)/VIMOS-IFU data set and related data products from an ESO Large Programme with the observational goal of obtaining two-dimensional kinematic data of early-type lens galaxies, out to one effective radius. The sample consists of 17 early-type galaxies (ETGs) selected from the SLACS gravitational-lens survey. The galaxies cover the redshift range from 0.08 to 0.35 and have stellar velocity dispersions between 200 and 350 km/s. This programme is complemented by a similar observational programme on Keck, using long-slit spectroscopy. In combination with multi-band imaging data, the kinematic data provide stringent constraints on the inner mass profiles of ETGs beyond the local Universe. Our Large Programme thus extends studies of nearby ETGs (e.g. SAURON/ATLAS^3D) by an order of magnitude in distance and towards higher masses. We provide an overview of our observational strategy, the data products (luminosity-weighted spectra and Hubble Space Telescope images) and derived products (i.e. two-dimensional fields of velocity dispersions and streaming motions) that have been used in a number of published and forthcoming lensing, kinematic and stellar-population studies. These studies also pave the way for future studies of ETGs at z ≈ 1 with the upcoming extremely large telescopes.