Evolution of initially contracting Bianchi class A models in the presence of an ultra-stiff anisotropic pressure fluid

We study the behaviour of Bianchi class A universes containing an ultra-stiff isotropic ghost field and a fluid with anisotropic pressures which is also ultra-stiff on the average. This allows us to investigate whether cyclic universe scenarios, like the ekpyrotic model, do indeed lead to isotropization on approach to a singularity (or bounce) in the presence of dominant ultra-stiff pressure anisotropies. We specialize to consider the closed Bianchi type IX universe, and show that when the anisotropic pressures are stiffer on average than any isotropic ultra-stiff fluid then, if they dominate on approach to the singularity, it will be anisotropic. We include an isotropic ultra-stiff ghost fluid with negative energy density in order to create a cosmological bounce at finite volume in the absence of the anisotropic fluid. When the dominant anisotropic fluid is present it leads to an anisotropic cosmological singularity rather than an isotropic bounce. The inclusion of anisotropic stresses generated by colli-sionless particles in an anisotropically expanding universe is therefore essential for a full analysis of the consequences of a cosmological bounce or singularity in cyclic universes.