A period of slow contraction with equation of state w > 1 , known as an ekpyrotic phase , has been shown to flatten and smooth the universe if it begins the phase with small perturbations .
In this paper , we explore how robust and powerful the ekpyrotic smoothing mechanism is by beginning with highly inhomogeneous and anisotropic initial conditions and numerically solving for the subsequent evolution of the universe .
Our studies , based on a universe with gravity plus a scalar field with a negative exponential potential , show that some regions become homogeneous and isotropic while others exhibit inhomogeneous and anisotropic behavior in which the scalar field behaves like a fluid with w = 1 .
We find that the ekpyrotic smoothing mechanism is robust in the sense that the ratio of the proper volume of the smooth to non-smooth region grows exponentially fast along time slices of constant mean curvature .