Gravitational lenses in arbitrary space-times

Abstract The precision reached by current and forthcoming strong-lensing observations requires to accurately model various perturbations to the main deflector. Hitherto, theoretical models have been developed to account for either cosmological line-of-sight perturbations, or isolated secondary lenses via the multi-plane lensing framework. This article proposes a general formalism to describe multiple lenses within an arbitrary space-time background. The lens equation, and the expressions of the amplification and time delays, are rigorously derived in that framework. Our results may be applied to a wide range of set-ups, from strong lensing in anisotropic cosmologies, to line-of-sight perturbations beyond the tidal regime.