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PiMuNu links us to an article at physics.aps.org:

The BICEP2 collaboration reports the detection of B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background, a signal that might originate from gravitational waves created by inflation during the very earliest moments in the evolution of our Universe.

Inflation, the hypothesis that the Universe underwent a phase of superluminal expansion in a brief period following the big bang, has the potential of explaining, from first principles, why the Universe has the structure we see today. Theorists have developed different models for inflation, which all share a common, robust prediction: Inflation would have created a background of gravitational waves that could have an observable effect. These waves would cause subtle, characteristic distortions of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the oldest light in the Universe, released when photons decoupled from matter and the Universe became transparent to radiation.

Until now, such a background of gravitational waves has escaped detection...