Aim and Objectives:

The principal challenge addressed in the ACT:MEE project is the development of theories for the Casimir effect in plasma and magnetic media, along with their varied applications. A pivotal element of this endeavor is the creation of a new semiclassical theory focusing on the lifespan of electron-positron plasmons and electron (positron) bonds with plasmons. This research directly paves the way for the formulation of a semiclassical theory for mesons and nuclear forces. The project encompasses several ancillary studies, revisiting the role of Bose-Einstein condensation in astrophysics and probing further into excited state resonance interactions, particularly in plasma contexts. In a previous FRINATEK project in Norway, which concluded in 2019, the Principal Investigator (PI) established an international collaboration focused on gas hydrates and ice formation. The PI will continue to guide research in this domain, but will primarily concentrate on fundamental issues related to the Casimir effect in plasma magnetic fluids. This includes exploring anisotropy, meson theory, and excited state interactions. Collaboration with the mentor and two PhD students will be pivotal in addressing these challenges. While the achievement of the primary objectives is feasible independently, international collaboration, especially with eminent researchers like Prof. Emeritus Barry Ninham from the Australian National University, can accelerate progress and amplify the impact of the findings.

International Collaboration:

The primary international collaborators in this project are Prof Emeritus Barry W. Ninham from ANU, Australia, and Prof. Emeritus Iver Brevik from NTNU, Norway. Ninham, who established the Applied Mathematics Department at ANU in the early 70s, has a distinguished career collaborating on various research topics, including specific ion effects, excited state interactions between molecules, and meson interactions, resulting in three publications (one currently in press). Ninham's contributions in the field have led to numerous invitations as a visiting Professor/National Chair globally, in countries like Sweden, Germany, Italy, among others. He has also been a contender for the Nobel Prize on two occasions, notably for his collaboration with Adrian Parsegian and Jacob Israelachvili on semiclassical theory and experiments on intermolecular forces. Prof. Brevik is renowned for his dedication to science and is recognized for his prolific publication record, contributing significantly to his department. The collaboration with these two esteemed professors also includes working on a book manuscript. Additionally, the project will continue various research collaborations with researchers from Spain, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Germany, China, and the USA. These international contacts are set to be further strengthened through the exchange of researchers and regular video meetings, facilitating a robust global network of scientific collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Local Environment:

The project is anchored at the Ensemble3 Center of Excellence in Poland, with Dr. Oleksandr Malyi, leader of the Inverse Materials Design group, serving as the mentor. The project team will benefit from strong support within the center and close collaboration with the Centre of New Technologies, University of Warsaw.

Research Scope:

The project extends into physical chemistry, solution, and electrochemistry, foundational to fields from molecular biology to nanotechnologies. It will address fundamental issues in the application of molecular forces, refining theories that often overlook quantum mechanics. The research will explore electrodynamic fluctuation forces in geophysics, with implications for phenomena like ice formation on gas hydrates.

Applications and Impact:

Applications range from understanding ice formation in extraterrestrial environments to the stabilization of methane hydrates. This project promises significant advancements in molecular sciences, potentially transforming current practices in fields like quantum computing, vision, photosynthesis, and more.

Project leader: Dr. Mathias Boström

Email: mathias.bostrom@ensemble3.eu

Mathias Boström received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Linköpings Universitet, Sweden (2000) on quantum vacuum fluctuation-induced Casimir and Casimir-Polder interactions. After his Ph.D., he was employed as a postdoctoral researcher at Australian National University, expanding his knowledge on specific ion effects in colloidal sciences and biology. He then went back to Europe with his own grant from Swedish Research Council that supported him as a research assistant (corresponding to Assisting Professor) at Linköping University, and later did a postdoc at the University of Regensburg. He has been invited as visiting researcher at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and as visiting Professor at the University of Cagliari (Italy). He has worked as a senior researcher at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. Within two Norwegian FRIPRO projects, he was employed in periods at the University of Oslo (Norway) and NTNU (Trondheim, Norway). He recently joined the Center for excellence ENSEMBLE3 in Warszawa as a senior researcher.

He has collaborated with researchers from many countries (and different research fields ranging from theoretical physics, colloid chemistry, chemical engineering, and material science), including from Sweden, Norway, Australia, China, India, Italy, Germany, France, USA, and Brazil. As listed on Scopus, he published more than 114 articles or book chapters with 4366 citations and h-index of 32.

Publications:

S. Pal, S. Osella, O. I. Malyi, M. Boström “Beyond Attraction: A Novel Approach to Repulsive Casimir-Lifshitz Forces using Heterogeneous Off-stoichiometry in Gapped Metals” Physics Letters A 531, 130162 (2025). (see also arxiv). [The Polish ministerial list of ranked journals: 70].
Y. Li, Prachi Parashar, I. Brevik, C. Persson, O. I. Malyi, M. Boström “Mechanism for ice growth on the surface of a spherical water droplet“ Physical Review B 111, 075426 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.111.075426 (see also arxiv https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.13155:)[The Polish ministerial list of ranked journals: 140]
Sol Carretero-Palacios, V. Esteso, Y. Li, S. Kuthe, I. Brevik, K. Iordanidou, O. I. Malyi, B. Glaser, C. Persson, M. Boström “Impact of metal oxidation on ice growth and melting” Phys. Rev. B 111, 085407 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.111.085407 (See also https://digital.csic.es/handle/10261/381964) [The Polish ministerial list of ranked journals: 140]
M. Boström, A. Gholamhosseinian, J. J. Marchetta, R. Corkery, I. Brevik “Temperature-distance relations in Casimir physics” Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 40 (No 10n11), 2543019 (2025). https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/10.1142/S0217751X25430195 (see also arxiv: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2501.15095) [The Polish ministerial list of ranked journals: 70]
S. Kuthe, M. Boström, W. Chen, B. Glaser, and C. Persson “Exploring the wettability of liquid iron on refractory oxides with sessile drop technique and density-functional derived Hamaker constants”, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 17, 16173−16186 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.4c21877 (See also arxiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.09614) [The Polish ministerial list of ranked journals: 200].
Subhojit Pal, John F. Dobson, and Mathias Boström, “Attractive and repulsive terms in multi-filament dispersion interactions”, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 27, 10291 (2025). https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2025/cp/d5cp01117e [The Polish ministerial list of ranked journals: 100].
A. Gholamhosseinian, R. W. Corkery, I. Brevik, Mathias Boström, ”Can An Uncertainty Relation Generate A Plasma?”, Phys. Lett. A 550, 130611 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physleta.2025.130611 (The first 50 days it can be downloaded for free on https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1l4nx1LUy9irY9) (See also arxiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.02619) [The Polish ministerial list of ranked journals: 70].
A. Yadav, M. Boström, O. I. Malyi “Understanding of dielectric properties of cellulose”, Cellulose, 31, 2783 (2024). [The Polish ministerial list of ranked journals: 100]
M. Boström, A. Gholamhosseinian, S. Pal, Y. Li, I. Brevik “Semi-classical electrodynamics and the Casimir effect”, Physics 6, 456–467 (2024) (open access). [The Polish ministerial list of ranked journals: 0]
I. Brevik, S. Pal, Y. Li, A. Gholamhosseinian, M. Boström “Axion electrodynamics and the Casimir effect”, Physics 6, 407–421 (2024) (open access). [The Polish ministerial list of ranked journals: 0]
S. Pal, I. Brevik, and M. Boström “Dispersion interaction between thin conducting cylinders” Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 26, 17969 (2024). (see also arxiv link https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2406.08047) [The Polish ministerial list of ranked journals: 100]
M. Boström, S. Pal, H. R. Gopidi, S. Osella, A. Gholamhosseinian, G. Palasantzas, O. I. Malyi “Casimir-Lifshitz force variations across heterogeneous gapped metal surfaces”, Physical Review B, 110, 045424 (2024) (see also arxiv link). [The Polish ministerial list of ranked journals: 140]
B. W. Ninham, I. Brevik and M. Boström, "Equivalence of electromagnetic fluctuation and nuclear (Yukawa) forces: the π0 meson, its mass and lifetime", Substantia 7 (1), 7-14 (2023).
Y. Li, R. W. Corkery, S. Carretero-Palacios, K. Berland, V. Esteso, J. Fiedler, K. A. Milton, I. Brevik, M. Boström, "Origin of anomalously stabilizing ice layers on methane gas hydrates near rock surface", Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 25 (9), 6636-6652 (2023).
B. W. Ninham, I. Brevik, O. Malyi, M. Boström, "A Role for Bose-Einstein Condensation in Astrophysics", Substantia 7 (2), 35-39 (2023).
Y. Li, I. Brevik, O. Malyi, and M. Boström, "Different pathways to anomalous stabilization of ice layers on methane hydrates", Physical Review E.108, 034801 (2023).
M. Boström, M. Khan, H. Gopidi, I. Brevik, Y. Li, C. Persson, O. Malyi, "Tuning the Casimir-Lifshitz force with gapped metals", Physical Review B 108 (16), 165306 (2023)
M. Boström, S. Kuthe, S. Carretero-Palacios, V. Esteso, Y. Li, I. Brevik, H. Gopidi, O. Malyi, B. Glaser, C. Persson, "Understanding ice and water film formation on soil particles by combining density functional theory and Casimir-Lifshitz forces", Physical Review B 108 (12), 125434 (2023).
M. Boström, Y. Li, I. Brevik, C. Persson, S. Carretero-Palacios, and O. I. Malyi, "van der Waals induced ice growth on partially melted ice nuclei in mist and fog", Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2023, 25, 32709 - 32714.

References:

This endeavor builds upon a foundation of published works and ongoing research, with references available for detailed insights into the theories and methodologies employed.

[1] M. Boström, D. Williams, and B. W. Ninham (2001),
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.168103
[2] M. Boström and Bo E. Sernelius (2000), https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.4757
[3] B. W. Ninham and M. Boström (2003), https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.67.030701
[4] B. W. Ninham, M. Boström, et al. (2014), https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2014-50484-8
[5] B. W. Ninham, I. Brevik, M. Boström, Equivalence of Electromagnetic Fluctuation and Nuclear
(Yukawa) Forces: the π0 Meson, its Mass and Lifetime. Substantia (2022). Just Accepted. DOI:
10.36253/Substantia-1807.
[6] M. Boström, et al., "Self-preserving ice layers on CO2 clathrate particles: Implications for Enceladus,
Pluto and similar ocean worlds" (2021), doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202040181
[7] M. Boström, C. Persson, B. W. Ninham, P. Norman, and Bo E. Sernelius (2013),
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.87.044701