Dancing “atoms” and “molecules” of luminous gas-discharge spots

Highly localized, dynamic particle-like excitations are observed in a dc-driven, quasi-two-dimensional gas-discharge system. These localized excitations undergo a transition from isolated to aggregated state as the discharge current is increased. Although they provide us a macroscopic analogue of microscopic atoms and molecules, they are quite distinct from the latter in the point that they exhibit a rich variety of complex dynamics. The fact that these localized excitations can show synchronous dynamics even in distant places, together with recent theoretical studies, indicates that a global coupling plays an important role on the dynamics of such localized excitations.