Prospects and problems of tachyon matter cosmology

We consider the evolution of FRW cosmological models and linear perturbations of tachyon matter rolling towards a minimum of its potential. The tachyon coupled to gravity is described by an effective 4d field theory of string theory tachyon. In the model where a tachyon potential V(T) has a quadratic minimum at finite value of the tachyon field T-0 and V(T-0) = 0, the tachyon condensate oscillates around its minimum with a decreasing amplitude. It is shown that its effective equation of state is p = -epsilon/3. However, linear inhomogeneous tachyon fluctuations coupled to the oscillating background condensate are exponentially unstable due to the effect of parametric resonance. In another interesting model, where tacbyon potential exponentially approaches zero at infinity of T, rolling tachyon condensate in an expanding Universe behaves as pressureless fluid. Its linear fluctuations coupled with small metric perturbations evolve similar to these in a pressureless fluid. However, this linear stage changes to a strongly non-linear one very early, so that the usual quasi-linear stage observed at sufficiently large scales in the present Universe may not be realized in the absence of the usual particle-like cold dark matter. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.