We study relativistic S+Au collisions at 200 A GeV/c using a hydrodynamical
approach. We test various equations of state (EOSs), which are used to describe
the strongly interacting matter at densities attainable in the CERN-SPS heavy
ion experiments. For each EOS, suitable initial conditions can be determined to
reproduce the experimental hadron spectra; this emphasizes the ambiguity
between the initial conditions and the EOS in such an approach. Simultaneously,
we calculate the resulting thermal photon and dielectron spectra, and compare
with experiments. If one allows the excitation of resonance states with
increasing temperature, the electro-magnetic signals from scenarios with and
without phase transition are very similar and are not resolvable within the
current experimental resolution. With regard to the CERES dilepton data, none
of the EOSs considered, in conjunction with the standard leading order dilepton
rates, succeed in reproducing the observed excess of dileptons below the rho
peak. Our work, however, suggests that an improved measurement of the photon
and dilepton spectra has the potential to strongly constrain the EOS.Comment: Uses REVTeX, 48 pages, 13 Postscript figure
