Dark side of the universe in the Stephani cosmology

Abstract

We investigate the late time acceleration of the universe in the context of the Stephani model. This solution generalizes those of Friedmann–Lemaitre–Robertson–Walker (FLRW) in such a way that the spatial curvature is a function of time. We show that the inhomogeneity of the models can lead to an accelerated evolution of the universe that is analogous to that obtained with FLRW models through a cosmological constant or any exotic component for matter.