Production of Neon in Stars

WE have recently made certain measurements of the properties of some levels in neon-20 which are related to the production of neon in stars. In particular we have shown that the 4.97-MeV. level has odd parity and J = 2. Consequently neon-20 cannot be formed through this level by thermonuclear reactions between helium and oxygen-16 as has been suggested to explain its production in stellar interiors after the hydrogen has been consumed1,2. The suggestion arose from the close proximity of the 4.97-MeV. level in neon-20 to the energy of oxygen-16 + α as shown in Fig. 1. For the level to be effective the parity would have to be (−)J where J is the total angular momentum.