Does the BICEP2 Observation of Cosmological Tensor Modes Imply an Era of Nearly Planckian Energy Densities?

Chiu Man Ho, Stephen D. H. Hsu

BICEP2 observations, interpreted most simply, suggest an era of inflation with energy densities of order ($10^{16}\mathrm{GeV}{)}^4$, not far below the Planck density. However, model…