Dependence of the induced vacuum energy of scalar matter in the background of an impenetrable magnetic tube on the coupling to the space-time curvature

Abstract: We considered the vacuum polarization of a quantized charged scalar matter field in the background of a finite-thickness tube with magnetic flux inside. The tube is impenetrable for quantum matter and a Robin-type boundary condition is imposed at its surface. We have shown that in the flat space-time the total induced vacuum energy does not depend on the coupling $(\xi)$ of the scalar field's interaction with the space-time curvature only for the partial cases of the Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions on the tube's edge. However, for generalized Robin boundary conditions, the total induced energy depends on the coupling $\xi$ in flat space-time, at least for negative values of the boundary condition parameter $-\pi/2<\theta<0$.