Bulk viscous late acceleration under near equilibrium conditions in f(R, T) gravity with mixed dark matter

Abstract Numerous studies have tried to explain the observed late acceleration of the Universe as being caused by the bulk viscosity associated with the dark matter (DM) component. However, for driving the said accelerated expansion, all such models require a violation of near equilibrium conditions (NECs) associated with the background viscous theory. But recently, it was found that, with the aid of a cosmological constant, it is possible to maintain NEC for the bulk viscous warm DM during certain evolutionary epochs of the Universe. Nevertheless, this negated the possibility of having a ‘solely’ viscous-driven late acceleration in Einstein gravity within the NEC limit. In the present study, we investigate a model of the Universe composed of mixed DM components, with viscous DM, and inviscid cold DM as its constituents, in the context of R + 2 λ T v m gravity, and show that the model predicts late acceleration by satisfying NEC, critical energy condition and second law of thermodynamics (SLT) throughout the evolution, even in the absence of a cosmological constant. One intriguing feature observed in this model is the possibility of having a negative bulk viscous coefficient and yet satisfying the SLT. Finally, by applying both theoretical and observational constraints on the model parameters, we determined the best-fit values of model parameters and thereby analyzed the evolutionary behavior of some relevant cosmological observables.