Investigation of resonances in $^{20}$Mg: Implications for astrophysics and nuclear forces

$^{18}$Ne(2p,$\gamma$)$^{20}$Mg provides a possible pathway for breakout from the hot CNO cycles to the rp-process in type I X-ray bursts. This reaction rate is uncertain due to lack of any experimental information on the resonant states in $^{20}$Mg above proton emission threshold. Recent calculations using nuclear forces from chiral perturbation theory predict quite a different level structure for $^{20}$Mg with and without inclusion of three nucleon forces. These differences make study of $^{20}$Mg states important to constraint both nuclear theory and this reaction rate. We have investigated the excited states in $^{20}$Mg through inelastic deuteron scattering. The experiment was performed using the IRIS facility at TRIUMF,Canada. The $^{20}$Mg beam with an average intensity of 500 pps and energy of 8.5\textit{A} MeV was directed at novel thin windowless solid deuteron target. Experiment and initial observations will be discussed.