assumes that these grav- ity waves are of an inflationary origin, then the BICEP2 mea- surement corresponds to an energy scale of inflation: vinl /4 r.e.. (2 ± 0.2) x 1016 GeV (I) for a reported tensor-to-scalar ratio of 7' la 0.2113:g (using also the Planck collaboration's measurement of the amplitu