Measurement of photons via conversion pairs in \sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200 GeV Au+Au collisions with the PHENIX experiment at RHIC

Thermal photons can provide information on the temperature of the new state of matter created at RHIC. In the p_T region of 1–3 GeV/c thermal photons are expected to be the dominant direct photon source. Therefore, a possible excess compared to a pure decay photon signal due to a thermal photon contribution should be seen in the double ratio (\gamma/\gamma(\pi^{0})){Measured}/(\gamma/\gamma(\pi^{0})){Simulated}, if sufficient accuracy can be reached. We present a method to reconstruct direct photons by measuring e^{+}e^{-}–pairs from external photon conversions.