Proton-proton fusion is of such low probability that it is almost a waste of time to think that it has relevance in the real world, despite the mainstream view. We see gamma radiation in stars with or without fusion (even Jupiter and the gas giants have lots of gamma emission) but this usually derives from positron/electron events, not fusion. A related phenomenon used to be called Wheeler’s “quantum foam” but the term has gone out of favor. (Wiki has an entry). A real proton/proton fusion event would be akin to winning every prize in the lottery on every draw for a year in a row… and has no applicability to LENR because of rarity.
There has to be a better crossover explanation - but proton fusion in so engrained that it will be difficult to weed out. Even Ed Storms has fallen for it. As an alternative to proton-proton fusion, there is a fully reversible diproton reaction with asymmetry. The diproton reaction is the most common reaction in the universe but it always reverses quickly. It is assumed to be net neutral in energy, mainly because of the assumption that proton mass is quantized - but that assumption is probably wrong - and each reaction event could have small gain contributory to stellar CNO fusion which is real: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNO_cycle Bottom line, if the proton has variable mass, then the reversible diproton reaction alone can power a star or it can be contributory . A population of protons which is not quantized can capture and convert mass to energy in several ways including the complete annihilation event of Holmlid. This has relevance to LENR and at one time here, I was promoting an alternative hypothesis for Ni-H gain called RPF – or Reversible Proton Fusion... but, alas - there is nothing new under the sun, as they say and someone had already thought of it. In the “small world” category, or maybe it is in the meme category – a theorist who lives not far away, came up with the same suggestion earlier. “Variable mass theories in relativistic quantum mechanics as an explanation for anomalous low energy nuclear phenomena” by Mark Davidson. Worth a read. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/615/1/012016/pdf From: Nigel Dyer In the text of the wikipedia page about proton proton fusion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton%E2%80%93proton_chain_reaction It says that in the first stage, when two protons fuse, a gamma ray proton is produced. However this is not shown in the diagram, or in anyone elses diagram, or in anyone else's text. Is the wikipedia page incorrect. If no gamma ray photon is produced then where does the excess energy (0.42MeV) from this first stage go? Nigel
