carbon15

Carbon-15 (15C) is a radioactive isotope of carbon with atomic number 6 and mass number 15. It contains 6 protons and 9 neutrons and does not occur naturally in observable quantities under ordinary conditions.

The nucleus is highly unstable and decays primarily via beta minus emission to nitrogen-15. Its half-life is very short, typically on the order of a few milliseconds, making direct observation and long-term study challenging. The isotope lies far from the line of beta stability, reflecting weak binding and rapid decay characteristic of neutron-rich light nuclei.

Production and detection of 15C occur mainly in high-energy nuclear reactions. It is generated in projectile fragmentation or spallation of heavier, stable nuclei in accelerator facilities. Following production, in-flight separation techniques combined with beta and gamma spectroscopy are used to identify 15C and characterize its decay scheme, including any excited-state transitions in the daughter nucleus.

Research on 15C contributes to understanding nuclear structure near the neutron drip line and tests theoretical models of light, neutron-rich systems. Its properties help illuminate how shell structure evolves with increasing neutron number and inform measurements of reaction mechanisms in exotic nuclei. While it has limited practical applications due to its brevity, 15C remains a useful probe in fundamental nuclear physics experiments.