A cosmic equation of state for the inhomogeneous universe: can a global far-from-equilibrium state explain dark energy?

A system of effective Einstein equations for spatially averaged scalar variables of inhomogeneous cosmological models can be solved by providing a 'cosmic equation of state'. Recent efforts to explain dark energy focus on 'backreaction effects' of inhomogeneities on the effective evolution of cosmological parameters in our Hubble volume, avoiding a cosmological constant in the equation of state. In this letter, it is argued that if kinematical backreaction effects are indeed of the order of the averaged density (or larger as needed for an accelerating domain of the universe), then the state of our regional Hubble volume would have to be in the vicinity of a far-from-equilibrium state that balances kinematical backreaction and average density. This property, if interpreted globally, is shared by a stationary cosmos with effective equation of state peff = -1/3 ρeff. It is concluded that a confirmed explanation of dark energy by kinematical backreaction may imply a paradigmatic change of cosmology. (letter to the editor)