Editing Xenon (section)

=== Stellar ===
Unlike the lower-mass noble gases, the normal [[stellar nucleosynthesis]] process inside a star does not form xenon. Nucleosynthesis consumes energy to produce nuclides more massive than [[iron-56]], and thus the synthesis of xenon represents no energy gain for a star.<ref>{{cite book
| first      = Donald D.
| last       = Clayton
| date       = 1983
| title      = Principles of Stellar Evolution and Nucleosynthesis
| publisher  = [[University of Chicago Press]]
| isbn       = 0-226-10953-4
| url        = https://archive.org/details/principlesofstel0000clay
| url-access = registration
| page       = [https://archive.org/details/principlesofstel0000clay/page/604 604]
}}</ref> Instead, xenon is formed during [[supernova]] explosions during the [[r-process]],<ref name="heymann">{{cite conference
| last      = Heymann
| first     = D.
| author2   = Dziczkaniec, M.
| title     = Xenon from intermediate zones of supernovae
| work      = Proceedings 10th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference
| pages     = 1943–1959
| publisher = Pergamon Press, Inc.
| date      = March 19–23, 1979
| location  = Houston, Texas
| bibcode   = 1979LPSC...10.1943H
}}</ref> by the slow neutron-capture process ([[s-process]]) in [[red giant]] stars that have exhausted their core hydrogen and entered the [[asymptotic giant branch]],<ref>{{cite journal
| author  = Beer, H.
| author2 = Kaeppeler, F.
| author3 = Reffo, G.
| author4 = Venturini, G.
| s2cid   = 123139238
| title   = Neutron capture cross-sections of stable xenon isotopes and their application in stellar nucleosynthesis
| journal = Astrophysics and Space Science
| volume  = 97
| issue   = 1
| date    = November 1983
| pages   = 95–119
| doi     = 10.1007/BF00684613
| bibcode = 1983Ap&SS..97...95B
}}</ref> and from radioactive decay, for example by [[beta decay]] of [[extinct radionuclide|extinct]] [[iodine-129]] and [[spontaneous fission]] of [[thorium]], [[uranium]], and [[plutonium]].<ref name="caldwell" />