Relativistic mean-field study of Mg isotopes

The nonlinear relativistic mean-field theory is used to investigate the ground state properties of Mg isotopes from the proton-drip-line nucleus 20Mg to the neutron-drip-line nucleus 40Mg, covering three magic numbers N = 8, 20, and 28. Special emphasis is placed on the influence of the pairing correlation on the deformation. Calculations show that the relativistic mean-field theory provides a good description of the binding energy and the root-mean-square radius of charge distributions. A monotonic increase of the neutron skin thickness with neutron excess is predicted. The nuclear shell structure at magic numbers N = 8, 20, and 28 is discussed.