Nuclear stopping and rapidity loss in <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" altimg="si1.gif" overflow="scroll"><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">Au</mml:mi><mml:mo>+</mml:mo><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">Au</mml:mi></mml:math> collisions at <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" altimg="si2.gif" overflow="scroll"><mml:msqrt><mml:msub><mml:mi>s</mml:mi><mml:mrow><mml:mi>N</mml:mi><mml:mi>N</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msub></mml:msqrt><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mn>62.4</mml:mn><mml:mtext> GeV</mml:mtext></mml:math>

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 sNN=62.4 GeV are presented. The rapidity densities, dN/dy, of protons, anti-protons and net-protons (Np–Np¯) 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 (dN/dy∼10), but rises to dN/dy∼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.