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

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 coaligned. This expansion improves previous calculations where we systematically avoid parameter ranges that correspond to nonexistent null trajectories. The linear coefficient γ characteristic to conformal gravity is shown to contribute enhanced deflection compared to the angle predicted by general relativity for small γ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]