Imagine a previously unrecognized bosonic nuclear force, somewhat like a gluon - but which has an associated force which is "protophobic" meaning that it attracts and binds neutrons, and repels protons. By analogy - this new force acts like a magnet for neutrons and a diamagnet for protons.
The new force/particle has received little attention . and since we are among the first to consider it in all its newfound glory, let's name it "neuglu" for the obvious reasons. It has a lot of mass-energy - nearly 17 MeV, and possibly can provide the lost mass needed to account for the thermal gain seen in LENR. The neuglu-boson is thus a range force which can arise between neutrons and electrons or between small groups of low Z nuclei if the neutron alignment is correct, since the above description of "protophobia" is eliminates it from large nuclei. Even so, these groups must present exposed contact zones of only neutrons, and possibly it adds stability. Plus, it is not easy to account for why the neuglu boson has been completely unrecognized all these years - but if SLAC says is so, then I am not going to argue with SLAC. To continue, if neuglu is real and it can act between exposed neutrons when groups geometrically favorable, then it will be found in predictable circumstances. Such a particle would carry a force that acts over distances only several times the width of an atomic nucleus and could temporarily bind atoms like deuterium ***without fusion*** into agglomerations which mimic other atoms and provide excess energy on decay. Now, imagine a cluster of four deuterons arranged in a tetrahedron, such that all the four neutrons pointed inward to the focal point of the arrangement, where the neuglu boson is spatially active. The four protons point outward - giving a rather pronounced positive near field. We can call this species beryllium-8, and it is short lived, but ironically the neuglu may prohibit fusion. Yet, this isomer does not need to decay to alphas and may instead sequentially form and reform from only UDD. Moreover, other neuglu bound nuclei are possible which are longer-lived, including 10B, 12C, 14N, 16O. Thus - here is a prediction which will provide some falsifiability to the premise that neuglu can bind deuterons in a way that mimics low Z elements. ---------------------------------------------- One way that the "fifth force" (or sixth, since the fifth force is already spoken for) could be relevant to LENR relates to Takahashi's TSC theory, or a revised version of it. This involves a Tetrahedral Symmetric Condensate . which, of course, has four vertices, or four active components - normally four deuterons. This is a very stable platonic solid form, and it can look very much like beryllium-8. This is sometimes called cluster fusion since more than two particles are involved. Four deuterons in the ultradense UDD state could react giving the fusion product or else the appearance of a 8Be atom which the Hungarians base everything on. If we want to go beyond Takahashi, fusion is NOT required -- merely the temporary formation of the tetrahedron, which has binding energy, followed by its energetic breakup back to deuterons - courtesy of the fifth force. Implied is asymmetry. That is one way to avoid the problem of lack of gamma radiation. Of course no one knows the expected ash, but if helium is found, then it is real cluster fusion - but this is highly unlikely IMO and otherwise, there would be a new type of gain based on 5th force dynamics.