The van der Waals fluid and its role in cosmology
  We analyze the properties of a generic cosmological fluid described by the
van der Waals equation of state. Exact solutions for the energy density
evolution are found as implicit functions of the scale factor for a flat
Friedmann-Robertson-Walker space-time. The possible values of the free
parameter in the van der Waals equation are selected \emph{a posteriori}, in
accordance with asymptotic behaviors that are physically relevant. The
stability of the model against small perturbations is studied through the
hydrodynamic perturbations of the fluid for the relevant cases. It is found
that a van der Waals fluid seems appropriate to describe non-eternal
inflationary scenarios.
