Constraints on cosmological parameters from Planck and BICEP2 data

We show that the tension introduced by the detection of large amplitude gravitational wave power by the BICEP2 experiment with temperature anisotropy measurements by the Planck mission is alleviated in models where extra light species contribute to the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom. We also show that inflationary models based on S-dual potentials are in agreement with Planck and BICEP2 data.