Lensing probes of the cold dark matter paradigm

Gravitational lensing by clusters of galaxies offers a powerful probe of theories of

structure formation. The standard paradigm of a cold dark matter dominated Universe 

provides concrete predictions for  small-scale substructure properties including their 

abundance, radial distribution and lensing efficiency. I present recent exciting results 

that confront observationally inferred quantities that map dark matter on small-scales with 

predictions of cosmological simulations. The power and prospects for stress-testing the cold

dark matter paradigm with lensing data will be discussed. With the upcoming data deluge

new stringent tests of dark matter will become feasible and viable.

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