New aspects of the physical scenario at origin of self-organisation

Plasma devices are able to generate space-temporal space charge structures displaying a body of phenomena usually attributed to systems traditionally placed outside of the realm of the physics. These structures reveal all of the essential characteristics considered as typical of self-organisation. After its birth the self-organized system is able by itself to sustain its autonomous state by a rhythmic exchange of matter and energy evidenced by the generation of ordered (and disordered) temporal structures. Electrical and spectral investigations of such structures have evidenced that microscopically at the origin of self-organisation is the symmetry-breaking and nonlinearity (determined by its quantum nature) of the excitation and ionization cross-section functions that assure the double-layer electrical charge arrangement and also the induced electrostatic forces which assure a spontaneous transition to a mechanical stability (long range correlations). Starting from this experimental result obtained in plasma it becomes possible to understand the self-organization phenomenon considering a new physical scenario very probably valid. (Author)