Inflation in spherically symmetric inhomogeneous models

Exact analytical solutions of Einstein's equations are found for a spherically symmetric inhomogeneous metric in the presence of a massless scalar field with a flat potential. The process of isotropization and homogenization is studied in detail. It is found that the time dependence of the metric becomes de Sitter for large times. Two cases are studied. The first deals with a homogeneous scalar field, while the second with a spherically symmetric inhomogeneous scalar field. In the former case the metric is of the Robertson-Walker form, while the latter is intrinsically inhomogeneous. 16 refs