Transport model study of nuclear stopping in heavy ion collisions over an energy range from 0.09A GeV to 160A GeV

Nuclear stopping in the heavy ion collisions over a beam energy range from SIS, AGS up to SPS is studied in the framework of the modified UrQMD transport model, in which mean field potentials of both formed and "pre-formed" hadrons (from string fragmentation) and medium modified nucleon-nucleon elastic cross sections are considered. It is found that the nuclear stopping is influenced by both the stiffness of the equation of state and the medium modifications of nucleon-nucleon cross sections at SIS energies. At the high SPS energies, the two-bump structure is shown in the experimental rapidity distribution of free protons, which can be understood with the consideration of the "pre-formed" hadron potentials.