The residue fields of a zero-dimensional ring (Q1295539)

Let \({\mathcal K} = \{K_{\alpha}\}_{\alpha \in A}\) denote an indexed family of fields. In J. Pure Appl. Algebra 82, No. 2, 131-153 (1992; Zbl 0782.13014), \textit{R. Gilmer} and \textit{G. Heinzer} considered the question under what conditions there exists a zero-dimensional commutative ring \(R\) such that \(\mathcal K\) is the family of residue fields \(\{R/M_{\alpha}\}_{\alpha \in A}\) up to isomorphism? In the case \(\mathcal K\) is the family of the residue fields of a zero-dimensional commutative ring \(R\) the associated bijection from the index set \(A\) to the spectrum of \(R\) (endowed with the Zariski topology) gives \(A\) the topology of a Boolean space. The paper under review is concerned with the following problem: Given a field \(F,\) a Boolean space \(X\) and a family \(\{K_x\}_{x \in X}\) of extension fields of \(F\). Under which circumstances does there exist a zero-dimensional \(F\)-algebra \(R\) such that \(\mathcal K\) is up to \(F\)-isomorphism the family of residue fields of \(R\) such that the associated bijection from \(X\) to \(\text{Spec} (R)\) is a homomorphism? The authors consider the necessary condition: For a given \(x \in X\) and any finite field extension \(F \subseteq E \subseteq K_x,\) there exists a neighborhood \(V\) of \(x\) and, for each \(y \in V,\) an \(F\)-embedding of \(E\) into \(K_x.\) Then they prove several partial converses of this result, under a hypothesis which allows the ``straightening'' of the \(F\)-embeddings to make them compatible. The authors give particular attention to the case where \(X\) has only one accumulation point and where \(X\) is countable. Moreover, several examples are provided.