In particular I am curious if the values of the rest masses of the electron, up/down quark, neutrino and the corresponding particles over the next two generations can be defined as constant or if there is an intrinsic uncertainty in the numbers. I suppose that since there is no (as of yet) mathematical theory that produces these masses we must instead rely on experimental results that will always be plagued by margins of error. But I wonder does it go deeper than this? In nature do such constant values exist or can they be "smeared" over a distribution like so many other observables prior to measurement? (Are we sampling a distribution albeit a very narrow one?) Does current theory say anything about this? (i/e they must be constant with no wiggle room vs. no comment)
I am somewhat familiar with on-shell and off-shell particles - but I must confess I'm not sure if this figures into my question. I'd like to say that as an example I'm talking about the rest mass of the electron as could be determined by charge and charge/mass ratios. But perhaps this very number is itself influenced by off-shell electron masses? Perhaps this makes no sense. Needless to say I'd appreciate any clarification.
Answer
They most certainly are not. You are right that there is no theory that explains masses (these are input as parameters) but note that our current theories used to explain e.g. LHC data (that is, quantum field theories) inevitably come with a scale attached: you need to describe upto what energies you do physics otherwise the theory just doesn't make sense [insert usual story here about renormalization and infinities often told to scare little children before their going to bed].
Now, this shouldn't come as such a surprise since there are new particles awaiting discovery just behind the corner, so claiming that we have a complete theory would be preposterous. Instead, what we claim is that we have a good theory that works upto some scale. Consequently, all of the parameters that are inserted by hand must depend on the scale. Again, this is because theories at different scales are potentially completely different (e.g. at the "present scale" there is no supersymmetry assumed while it is conceivable that at a little higher scale our theories will have to include it) and so the parameters of the theories that are used to connect the theory with experiment potentially have no relation to each other. This phenomenon is known as running of coupling constants or, briefly, the running coupling.
The moral is that all the rest masses and interaction "constants" depend on some scale. They shouldn't be thought as something inherently deep about the nature but just as fitting parameters that describe only effective masses and effective coupling. To illustrate why they are just effective: consider an electron in classical physics. We can measure its charge by usual methods. This value is the long-distance low-energy $e(E \to 0)$ limit of the scale dependent coupling $e(E)$. As you increase the energy and try to probe electron at shorter distances you will find that lots of others electron-positron pairs appear, screening the electron, and the charge that you will measure will be different due to these changed conditions (we talk about the polarization of vacuum).
Just for the sake of completeness: one could say that $E \to 0$ limit is the most important thing about couplings and that we should take that as definition. If so, then these long-distance couplings are indeed constants as one was used in classical physics. But this point of view is worthless in particle physics where people instead try to make $E$ as high as possible to obtain a theory valid at high scales (since this is what they need at LHC).
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