Exact gravitational lensing in conformal gravity and Schwarzschild-de Sitter spacetime

Abstract

An exact solution is obtained for the gravitational bending of light in static, spherically symmetric metrics which includes the Schwarzschild-de Sitter spacetime and also the Mannheim-Kazanas metric of conformal Weyl gravity. From the exact solution, we obtain a small bending-angle-approximation for a lens system where the source, lens and observer are co-aligned. This expansion improves previous calculations where we systematically avoid parameter ranges that correspond to non-existent null trajectories. The linear coefficient $\gamma$ characteristic to conformal gravity is shown to contribute enhanced deflection compared to the angle predicted by General Relativity for small $\gamma$.