Charge: a curved null gravity wave

A photon is the smallest piece of light; this page follows one photon, closed into a loop. The base of this drawing is what was shown in the previous mass drawing: the inside view, where the electron establishes the space density from the space the mass hides.

Added is the effect from the head and the tail. Darkest along the outer edge of the loop where the most space is hidden, fading to white far away where it no longer leaves a visible mark.

The white line starts exactly at the photon's tail, the same white as the far page. The band is that white propagating back into the surrounding shade, the space density the mass has set at that distance, complete by the head's edge.

Thin and most intense at the start; wider as it winds out at c; gone where the page is white and there is no displayable difference from the space hidden that far out. Net change through and back: zero, a null gravity wave, curved. That winding is charge and the other direction is the opposite charge.

Q ∝ ∮dφ = 2πn,  so  q = n·q0,  σ = ±1
(n the count of aligned turns per cycle; σ which way the loop turns; in the textbook’s letters q = ne, with e the electron’s charge, and the sign is σ)
One turn per loop period here, n = 1. The winding drawn is that turn and its handedness is the sign. The count cannot drift: “no surprise jumps unless you actually cross a defect”, which is why charge is conserved.
Particle Mechanics Math Appendix (Δφloop = 2πn), Particle Mechanics Narrative §7, Electromagnetism Narrative §3, §4, Mathematical Bridge §4.
hidden spacetail — the white line is born here: pure no-mass whitehead — the fade completes: back to the surrounding shadegap 1.26 ƛₑ — thin and intense near the sourcegap 1.40 ƛₑ — wider and fainter — the white edge outruns the head edgethe mass-set density: the dark rim at the loop's edge is its maximum (δ = ½ there) — near-black is reserved for δ = 1, the point itself, seen from outsideƛₑ = 386 fm

Computed throughout. Base tint and every fade: δ(r) = ƛₑ²/(r²+ƛₑ²). The sliver opens between tail and head at the loop surface (gap = the loop's drawn opening, Δ = 0.11 T, the head chases 0.7 rad behind the tail). Width: the white (release) edge advances through deficit space at drawn speed c/(1−δ) while the head (hide) edge chases through released space at c, so the gap grows fastest near the mass and saturates as δ dies (values printed at two crossings). Cross-band shading: sharp at the white line, fading gradually to the surrounding shade toward the head side (drawn brightness eased as √δ so the outer windings stay printable; the physical contrast is δ itself). The head side has no line of its own; equality with the background is its edge. Head propagates toward the tail; the pattern trails the rotation.