Overview

• Physicists at Saarland University led by Martin Müser used advanced computer simulations to show that dipole–dipole interactions at the contact interface disrupt ice’s crystal lattice.
• The work, published in Physical Review Letters, challenges the long-taught view that pressure and friction drive the thin lubricating layer on ice.
• The simulations indicate the interfacial region becomes disordered and liquid-like when polar surfaces such as shoe soles, skis, or skates contact ice.
• The team reports that this film still forms near absolute zero, though it becomes thicker than honey in viscosity and is not useful for activities like skiing.
• The research reframes how phase behavior at solid–liquid interfaces is explained and centers computational modeling rather than pressure- or friction-induced melting.