Self-interaction in the Bopp–Podolsky electrodynamics: Can the observable mass of a charged particle depend on its acceleration?

• An expression for the self-force in the Bopp–Podolsky electrodynamics is given.
• For a uniformly accelerated charged particle an explicit formula for the self-force is obtained.
• Dependence between the observable mass of a charged particle and its acceleration is found.

In this paper we obtain the expression for the self-force in the model with the Lagrangian containing additional terms, quadratic in Maxwell tensor derivatives (so-called Bopp–Podolsky electrodynamics). Features of this force are analyzed for various limiting cases. When a charged particle moves along straight line with a uniform acceleration, an explicit formula is found. In the framework of the considered model, an observable renormalized particle mass is shown to depend on its acceleration. This dependence allows, in principle, to extract experimentally a value of the particle bare mass.