  Theoretical studies of the production of real thermal photons in relativistic
heavy ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) are
performed. The space-time evolution of the colliding system is modelled using
MUSIC, a 3+1D relativistic hydrodynamic simulation, using both its ideal and
viscous versions. The inclusive spectrum and its azimuthal angular anisotropy
are studied separately, and the relative contributions of the different photon
sources are highlighted. It is shown that the photon v2 coefficient is
especially sensitive to the details of the microscopic dynamics like the
equation of state, the ratio of shear viscosity over entropy density, eta/s,
and to the morphology of the initial state.
