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Sign inBICEP2 reported excess degree-scale B-mode power in a single 150 GHz band, with and disfavoured at 7.0σ, interpreting it as primordial gravitational waves from inflation. With one frequency the measurement could not separate polarized Galactic dust from a cosmological signal, and the dust model used was later shown to underestimate dust in the field.
The joint BICEP2/Keck–Planck analysis (2015) found strong evidence for dust and set at 95% confidence; the excess is explained by dust plus lensing. The B-mode power itself is real; the primordial interpretation is refuted. The PRL paper was not formally retracted.
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Cross-correlating BICEP2/Keck with Planck 353 GHz shows the excess is consistent with dust plus lensing; (95%).
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The joint analysis confirms the B-mode power and detects lensing B-modes at 7.0σ, so the measurement itself, not its interpretation, holds up.
Planck finds no dust-free windows at high latitude and dust BB power in the BICEP2 field comparable to the claimed signal.