Objects do no leak mass due to gravitational interaction, but gravitational interaction always expends some energy. The earth orbiting the sun expends some energy in the form of gravitational waves but it's miniscule. It is enough though that the earth's orbit decays measurably.
This experiment is designed to detect the waves carrying away that lost energy, but you need a cataclysmic event like the collision of two black holes for the event to be energetic enough that you can measure it and measure it on astronomical scales.
This is the reason why LIGO must be so sensitive, we hope not to experience a nearby black hole collision for as long as we're alive, so we must measure a distant one.
Mass and energy are interchangeable but they both must be conserved.
They didn't leak mass, the missing mass became energy in the form of emission (photons and some kinetic) and gravitational waves, which until recently we could not detect. The equations suggested they were there though, and that's why these experiments were funded, a way to find out if the uncertainties in the standard model were true or not. At this point, our model seems to predict what we track in reality with this experiment.
Of course, there are gaps in the standard model and they must all be tested. LHC is also looking at the gaps, and confirming/invalidating them.
This experiment is designed to detect the waves carrying away that lost energy, but you need a cataclysmic event like the collision of two black holes for the event to be energetic enough that you can measure it and measure it on astronomical scales.
This is the reason why LIGO must be so sensitive, we hope not to experience a nearby black hole collision for as long as we're alive, so we must measure a distant one.
Mass and energy are interchangeable but they both must be conserved.
They didn't leak mass, the missing mass became energy in the form of emission (photons and some kinetic) and gravitational waves, which until recently we could not detect. The equations suggested they were there though, and that's why these experiments were funded, a way to find out if the uncertainties in the standard model were true or not. At this point, our model seems to predict what we track in reality with this experiment.
Of course, there are gaps in the standard model and they must all be tested. LHC is also looking at the gaps, and confirming/invalidating them.