Effects of the density dependence of the nuclear symmetry energy on the properties of superheavy nuclei

Effects of the density dependence of the nuclear symmetry energy on ground-state properties of superheavy nuclei are studied in the relativistic mean-field theory. It is found that the softening of the symmetry energy plays an important role in the empirical shift [Phys. Rev. C 67, 024309 ( 2003)] of spherical orbitals in superheavy nuclei. The calculation based on the relativistic mean-field models NL3 and FSUGold supports the double shell closure in (292)120 with the softening of the symmetry energy. In addition, the significant effect of the density dependence of the symmetry energy on the neutron skin thickness in superheavy nuclei is investigated.