Possibly primordial gravitational waves, but galactic dust not ruled out: Nuanced account of stunning patterns in the microwave sky

The results from the BICEP2 experiment, the second generation of the Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization experiment, are controversial in the astrophysics community, with various experts proposing that the signal may be an artifact resulting from distortions created by Galactic dust. The BICEP2 collaboration addresses these claims directly, changing, removing and adding some analyses, but they acknowledge that they cannot rule out the possibility that dust may be partly or entirely responsible for the gravitational-wave-like signals. They anticipate that forthcoming data will resolve this question about their potentially groundbreaking research.

Further information about the significance of the BICEP2 research is available in a special edition of the publication Physics, including a Viewpoint article (http://physics.aps.org/articles/v7/64) by Lawrence Krauss, a Physics Focus overview (http://physics.aps.org/articles/v7/65) by journalist David Lindley discussing a selection of recent Physical Review Letters theory articles on the wide-ranging implications of the finding for cosmology, particle physics and even dark-matter models, and an Editorial by the PRL Editors.