The dipole plasma exhibits strong heterogeneities in field strength, density, temperature, and other parameters, while maintaining the holistic balance. Enquiring into the internal structures, we reveal the fundamental self-organizing mechanisms operating in their simplest realization (as commonly observed in astronomical systems). Three new findings are reported from the RT-1 experiment: Creation of a high-energy electron core (similar to the radiation belts in planetary magnetospheres) is observed for the first time in a laboratory system. Highenergy electrons (3 -15 keV), produced by an electron cyclotron heating (ECH), accumulate in a "belt" located in the low-density region (high-beta value ~ 1 is obtained by increasing the high-energy component up to 70% of the total electrons). The dynamical process of the "uphill diffusion" (a spontaneous mechanism of creating density gradient) has been analyzed by perturbing the density by gas injection. The spontaneous density formation in laboratory 2 magnetosphere eluciates the self-organized plasma transport relevant to planetary magnetosphere. The coherence-imaging spectroscopy visualized the two dimensional profiles of ion temperature and flow velocity in the ion cyclotron resonance frequency (ICRF) heating.The ion temperature and flow were enhanced globally, and particularly along the magnetic field lines near the levitation magnet. These results advance our understanding of transport and self-organization not only in dipole plasmas, but also in general magnetic confinement systems relevant to fusion plasmas.

A theoretical model of the high-beta equilibrium of magnetospheric plasmas was constructed by consistently connecting the (anisotropic pressure) Grad-Shafranov equation and the Vlasov equation. The Grad-Shafranov equation was used to determine the axisymmetric magnetic field for a given magnetization current corresponding to a pressure tensor. Given a magnetic field, we determine the distribution function as a specific equilibrium solution of the Vlasov equation, using which we obtain the pressure tensor. We need to find an appropriate class of the distribution function for these two equations to be satisfied simultaneously. Here, we consider the distribution function that maximizes the entropy on the submanifold specified by the magnetic moment. This is equivalent to the reduction of the canonical Poisson bracket to the noncanonical one having the Casimir corresponding to the magnetic moment. The pressure tensor then becomes a function of the magnetic field (through the cyclotron frequency) and flux function, satisfying the requirement of the Grad-Shafranov equation.