Nuclear stopping and rapidity loss in Au+Au collisions at sNN=62.4 GeV

Abstract Transverse momentum spectra of protons and anti-protons measured in the rapidity range 0 y 3.1 from 0–10% central Au + Au collisions at s N N = 62.4 GeV are presented. The rapidity densities, d N / d y , of protons, anti-protons and net-protons ( N p – N p ¯ ) have been deduced from the spectra over a rapidity range wide enough to observe the expected maximum net-baryon density. From mid-rapidity to y = 1 the net-proton yield is roughly constant ( d N / d y ∼ 10 ), but rises to d N / d y ∼ 25 at 2.3 y 3.1 . The mean rapidity loss is 2.01 ± 0.14 ± 0.12 units from beam rapidity. The measured rapidity distributions are compared to model predictions. Systematics of net-baryon distributions and rapidity loss vs. collision energy are discussed.