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Does the non-existence of an elemental electric charge without associated rest mass suggest that atleast a part of the definition of electric charge is dependent on that of mass? I have read from the following link that it is possible to write a theory of massless electric charges which kind of implies that electric charge & mass have nothing to do with each other in terms of independent existence.

Massless charged particles

But given the fact that we haven't observed any massless particle with electric charge in our reality yet, does elemental electric charge have got to do something with the rest mass (in our reality)?

CuriousMind9
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  • Doesn't this just duplicate the question you linked to? If not, then I can't tell what the question is. –  Nov 04 '19 at 13:47
  • My question is more specifically whether elemental electric charge has any dependence on the associated rest mass in our reality. I am not questioning here whether massless electrically charged particles exist or not or if they are possible. – CuriousMind9 Nov 04 '19 at 14:56
  • My question is more specifically whether elemental electric charge has any dependence on the associated rest mass. It’s the other way around. The electrostatic self-energy of a point charge renormalizes its rest mass. – G. Smith Nov 04 '19 at 17:41

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