We detected it.

We built a wall. We built the pyramids.

Aliens built the pyramids. That guy on the History channel with the wild hair said so.

Wooly mammoths were running around the earth a couple thousand years after the pyramids were built. The pyramids are spaceship landing beacons.

Wait a minute there Physics Boy. It seems the key phrase in alanleroy's original post is :"If confirmed".

"Theoretical physicists and cosmologists James Dent, Lawrence Krauss, and Harsh Mathur have submitted a brief paper stating that, while groundbreaking, the BICEP2 Collaboration findings have yet to rule out all possible non-inflation sources of the observed B-mode polarization patterns and the 'surprisingly large value of r, the ratio of power in tensor modes to scalar density perturbations.'

Not intending to entirely rain out the celebration, Dent, Krauss, and Mathur do laud the BICEP2 findings as invaluable to physics, stating that they 'will be very important for constraining physics beyond the standard model, whether or not inflation is responsible for the entire BICEP2 signal, even though existing data from cosmology is strongly suggestive that it does.'

And so, for better or worse, . . . this is how science works and how science is supposed to work. A claim is presented, and, regardless of how attractive its implications may be, it must stand up to any other possibilities before deemed the decisive winner. It’s not a popularity contest, it’s not a beauty contest, and it’s not up for vote. What it is up for is scrutiny, and this is just an example of scientists behaving as they should."

Ref: Universe Today

Now poor old DonDiego doesn't claim to understand every word he quoted, above. Although he did take a course in "The Calculus of Imaginary Numbers" his senior year of college; nowadays he doesn't even know f'rsure what the words "calculus of imaginary numbers" mean, . . . let alone the phrase ". . . surprisingly large value of r, the ratio of power in tensor modes to scalar density perturbations."

But wouldn't it be a nicer world if everyone looked at the facts and examined things rationally like scientists and didn't just jump to conclusions favoring one side or the other and calling one another names.
DonDiego says: "Yes", but he's open to argument against it.

Oh, and by the way, . . . here's a picture of the History of the Entire Universe since the Big Bang:



And this is what one gets if one has a Big Bang and waits 14-Billion years:



Not a bad Universe, to produce such a booty in only 14-billion years.

It's all about the detection of gravitational waves. The substantial evidence of inflation theory was gravy.

It turns out that DonDiego was right. It is quite possible that we detected 'dust' and not gravitational waves. Damn those cosmic dust bunnies. Damn them to hell.


https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29305985

For those interested here's an actual link to alanleroy's referenced report: BBC.com

"[Cosmic] Inflation makes a very specific prediction - that it would have been accompanied by waves of gravitational energy, and that these ripples in the fabric of space-time would leave an indelible mark on the "oldest light" in the sky - the famous Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB).
The [research] team said its telescope at the South Pole had detected just such a signal."
Now, it turns out that the group may have underestimated the confounding effects of dust in our own galaxy.

Oh, . . . and about that "It turns out that DonDiego was right"-thing, . . . DonDiego thinks he just felt a cosmic-ripple in his loins.

Mr . Chilcoot , Can I have your correct first and last name so that I can place you on a prayer list at our church ? Bob

Likely just dust settling.