How well can we really know the scale of inflation?

Duke - UNC joint seminar at Duke.A detection of primordial gravity waves has been heralded not only as a smoking gun for the existence of inflation, but also as a way to establish the scale at which inflation took place. In this talk I will review the connection between a confirmed detection of primordial gravity waves and the scale of inflation. In particular, I will discuss whether other primordial sources of gravity waves could lead to a misinterpretation of the data. I will also discuss challenges for inflation model building and the implications for the post-inflationary, "Big Bang" universe.