Particle Production in an expanding universe dominated by dark energy fluid

Abstract

We investigate the fate of particle production in an expanding universe dominated by a perfect fluid with equation of state $p=\alpha \rho$. The rate of particle production, using the Bogolioubov coefficients, are determined exactly for any value of $\alpha$ in the case of a flat universe. When the strong energy condition is satisfied, the rate of particle production decreases as time goes on, in agreement to the fact that the four-dimensional curvature decreases with the expansion; the opposite occurs when the strong energy condition is violated. In the phantomic case, the rate of particle production diverges in a finite time. This may lead to a backreaction effect, leading to the avoidance of the big rip singularity, specially if $-1>\alpha >-5/3$.

Latex file, 14 pages, 1 figure in EPS format