Astrophysical tests for the Novello-De Lorenci-Luciane theory of gravity: Gravitational-wave + neutrino bursts from local supernovae and gravitational-wave microlensing by Galactic (MACHOs) black holes

The Novello-DeLorenci-Luciane (NDL) field theory of gravitation predicts that gravitational waves (GWs) follow geodesics of a modified (effective) geometry with a speed lower than the velocity of light. The theory also demonstrates that GWs exhibit the phenomenon of birefringence, formerly believed to be exclusive of electromagnetic waves. Here prospective astrophysical tests of these predictions are proposed. I point out that future measurements of gravitational waves in coincidence with a non-gravitational process such as {\it a neutrino burst} (and likely a burst of gamma-rays) may prove useful to discriminate among all the existing theories of gravity. It is also stressed that microlensing of gravitational waves emitted by known galactic sources (i.e., pulsars) in the bulge, lensed by either the Galaxy's central black hole (Sgr A$^\ast$) or a MACHO object adrift among the Milky Way's stars, may provide a clean test of the birefringence phenomenon implied by the NDL gravity theory.