We study a novel type of contribution to the partition function of the Maxwell system defined on a small compact manifold $\mathbb{M}$ such as a torus. These new terms cannot be described in terms of the physical propagating photons with two transverse polarizations. Rather, these novel contributions emerge as a result of tunneling events when transitions occur between topologically different but physically identical vacuum winding states. These new terms give an extra contribution to the Casimir pressure, yet to be measured. We argue that if the same system is considered in the background of a small external time-dependent magnetic field, then there will be emission of photons from the vacuum, similar to the dynamical Casimir effect (DCE) when real particles are radiated from the vacuum due to the time-dependent boundary conditions. The difference with conventional DCE is that the dynamics of the vacuum in our system is not related to the fluctuations of the conventional degrees of freedom, the virtual photons. Rather, the radiation in our case occurs as a result of tunneling events between topologically different but physically identical $|k⟩$ sectors in a time-dependent background. We comment on the relation of this novel effect to the well-known, experimentally observed, and theoretically understood phenomena of the persistent currents in normal metal rings. We also comment on possible cosmological applications of this effect.

• Received 16 February 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.91.105027