Thanks for your considered post, Kurros.
I've read your post carefully and tried to extract what I can as a somewhat nuts and bolts laser physicist working at the bench for last 30 years or so. :-)
You've also given me some pointers as to what I need to study in order to understand some of...
Aren't you thinking of the photon there?
My question relates to why there isn't a 'charge field' associated with quantity charge analogous to the Higgs field associated with quantity mass.
OK. Thank you. So, what you're saying is that it needs to be this way for the standard model to stand up?
My guess is that to understand why this is so I will have to look into gauge symmetry and the standard model.
Yes I do. The photon, W/Z, gluon and graviton bosons mediate their associated fields.
Only the property mass seems to need this extra field and its associated boson - ie the Higgs.
The property of charge gets away with not having one. Why?