Equation of state for solar near-surface convection

Abstract. Numerical 3-D radiative hydrodynamical simulations are the main tool for the analysis of the interface between the solar convection zone and the photosphere. The equation of state is one of the necessary ingredients of these simulations. We compare two equations of state that are commonly used, one ideal and one nonideal, and quantify their differences. Using a numerical code we explore how these differences propagate with time in a 2-D convection simulation. We show that the runs with different equations of state (EOSs) and everything else identical relax to statistically steady states in which the mean temperature (in the range of the continuum optical depths typical for the solar photosphere) differs by less than 0.2%. For most applications this difference may be considered insignificant.