  We investigate the electromagnetic mass differences of SU(3) baryons, using
an "model-independent approach" within a chiral soliton model. The
electromagnetic self-energy corrections to the masses of the baryon are
expressed as the baryonic two-point correlation function of the electromagnetic
currents. Using the fact that the electromagnetic current can be treated as an
octet operator, and considering possible irreducible representations of the
correlation function, we are able to construct a general collective operator
for the electromagnetic self-energies, which consists of three unknown
parameters. These parameters are fixed, the empirical data for the
electromagnetic mass differences of the baryon octet being employed. We predict
those of the baryon decuplet and antidecuplet. In addition, we obtain various
mass relations between baryon masses within the corresponding representation
with isospin symmetry breaking considered. We also predict the physical mass
differences of the baryon decuplet. The results are in good agreement with the
exisiting data.
