Current physics defines charge as what causes electrical effects, and electrical effects as those caused by charge, a circular definition that doesn’t add anything to our understanding. Equally, the standard model takes charge to be a fundamental property, like mass, and so doesn’t even try to explain it.
In contrast, a model that derives mass from processing expects to do the same for charge. To recap, Figure 4.3 shows two extreme photons meeting at a point, where mass is the net positive processing that repeats in the collision. If so, there will be negative processing that never runs, as shown by the dotted lines. A quantum network has to keep its processing books in order, so let the charge of an electron be its constant processing deficit. If the net processing that repeats is mass, and the processing left over is charge, then charge is a necessary byproduct of matter.
This definition of charge fits its properties, as a processing remainder can:
1. Be positive or negative, as charge is.
2. Cancel its opposite, as opposite charges do.
3. Have a constant value, as an electron’s charge is.
If mass is the net processing that runs and charge is the remainder that doesn’t run, then a matter entity inevitably has mass and charge by the operation that creates it. Mass and charge are thus related in a way that the standard model doesn’t recognize.