Scalar field inflation and Shan-Chen fluid models

Abstract

A scalar field equivalent to a non-ideal "dark energy fluid" obeying a Shan-Chen-like equation of state is used as the background source of a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmological spacetime to describe the inflationary epoch of our universe. Within the slow-roll approximation, a number of interesting features are presented, including the possibility to fulfill current observational constraints as well as a graceful exit mechanism from the inflationary epoch.

9 pages, 5 figures; published version. The title has been changed. A new section (Section III A) has been added describing the main features of the Shan-Chen equation of state in the original context wherein it has been introduced. The stability issue of the model is also discussed in the Appendix