Abstract
Direct photon production in central Pb+Pb collisions at CERN-SPS energy is calculated within the ultrarelativistic quantum molecular dynamics model (UrQMD), and within distinctly different versions of relativistic hydrodynamics. We find that in UrQMD the local momentum distributions of the secondaries are strongly elongated along the beam axis initially. Therefore, the pre-equilibrium contribution dominates the photon spectrum at transverse momenta above $\ensuremath{\approx}1.5$ GeV. The hydrodynamics prediction of a strong correlation between the temperature and radial expansion velocities on the one hand, and the slope of the transverse momentum distribution of direct photons on the other hand thus is not recovered in UrQMD. The rapidity distribution of direct photons in UrQMD reveals that the initial conditions for the longitudinal expansion of the photon source (the meson ``fluid'') resemble boost invariance rather than Landau-like flow.
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