ON THE ROLE OF VISCOSITY IN EARLY COSMOLOGY
We present a discussion of the effects induced by bulk viscosity on the very early Universe stability. The viscosity coefficient is assumed to be related to the energy density ρ via a power-law of the form ζ = ζ0ρs (where ζ0, s = const.) and the behavior of the density contrast in analyzed. In particular, we study both Einstein and hydrodynamic equations up to first and second order in time in the so-called quasi-isotropic collapsing picture near the cosmological singularity. As a result, we get a power-law solution existing only in correspondence to a restricted domain of ζ0. The particular case of pure isotropic FRW dynamics is then analyzed and we show how the asymptotic approach to the initial singularity admits an unstable collapsing picture.