We investigate in detail the possibility that a single imperfect fluid with bulk viscosity can replace the need for separate dark matter and dark energy in cosmological models. With suitable choices of model parameters, we show that the background cosmology in this model can mimic that of a $\Lambda \mathrm{CDM}$ universe to high precision. However, as the cosmic expansion goes through the decelerating-accelerating transition, the density perturbations in this fluid are rapidly damped out. We show that, although this does not significantly affect structure formation in baryonic matter, it makes the gravitational potential decay rapidly at late times, leading to modifications in predictions of cosmological observables such as the CMB power spectrum and weak lensing. This model of unified dark matter is thus difficult to reconcile with astronomical observations. We also clarify the differences with respect to other unified dark matter models where the fluid is barotropic, i.e., $p=p(\rho )$, such as the (generalized) Chaplygin gas model, and point out their observational difficulties. We also summarize the status of dark sector models with no new dynamical degrees of freedom introduced and discuss the problems with them.

• Received 18 February 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.79.103521