Inhomogeneous viscous fluids for inflation

TL;DR

This paper explores how inhomogeneous viscous fluids can model inflationary cosmology, proposing toy models that align with data and facilitate a graceful exit, with comparisons to scalar field approaches.

Contribution

It introduces novel inhomogeneous viscous fluid models for inflation and analyzes their compatibility with cosmological data and reheating processes.

Findings

Models can reproduce inflation consistent with observations

Viscous effects enable a natural exit from inflation

Comparison with scalar field models shows similar dynamics

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate inhomogeneous viscous fluid cosmology for inflation. Several toy models are presented in the attempt to analyze how inflation can be realized according with cosmological data by making use of an inhomogeneous EoS parameter for the fluid and/or by introducing a viscosity to have a graceful exit from inflation. The results will be compared with the ones of scalar field representation and discussed. We will pay attention on the possibility to recover the reheating and therefore the Friedmann universe.