Radioactive ion beams of 55 MeV11C from the BEARS project at LBNL and a thick‐target technique were used to study resonant states in12N. With a reaction in inverse kinematics an excitation function of elastic scattering cross section was measured in a single exposure covering the center of mass energy range between 300 keV to 1100 keV. The elastic scattering reaction11C(p,p)11C is related to the reaction11C(p,&ggr;)12N, an important branch point in the hot pp chains and a determinant of the evolution of supermassive stars. The data was analyzed using the R‐matrix code MULTI. Preliminary results suggests that the first excited state in12N (0.96 MeV) might play a more important role in determining the11C(p,&ggr;)12N reaction rate than previously believed. © 2003 American Institute of Physics