The cosmological constant and the gravitational light bending

The solution of the null non-radial geodesic in a Schwarzschild-de Sitter background is revisited. The gravitational bending of a light ray is affected by the cosmological constant, in agreement with the findings of some previous investigations. The present study confirms that the leading correction term depends directly not only on Λ but also on the impact parameter and on the angular distance to the source. Using the resulting lens equation, the projected mass of the lens was estimated for several systems displaying Einstein rings. Corrections on the masses due to Λ are, on the average, of the order of 2%, indicating that they are not completly negligible for lens systems at cosmological distances.