Noncommutative rings in which every prime ideal is contained in a unique maximal ideal (Q1181426)

In a commutative ring \(R\) with 1, the following statements are equivalent: (1) Every prime ideal is contained in a unique maximal ideal; (2) There is a retraction of the prime spectrum \(\text{Spec }R\) onto \(\text{Max }R\), the maximal ideal space; (3) \(\text{Spec }R\) is normal (4) \(R\) is a Gelfand ring. A ring \(R\) with 1 is called symmetric if \(xyz=0\) then \(zxy=0\) for any \(x,y,z\) in \(R\). The author proves that in a symmetric ring, (1), (2), (3) and (4) are equivalent. Call a ring \(R\) weakly symmetric if there is an ideal \(N\) which is contained in the Jacobson radical of \(R\) such that \(R/N\) is a symmetric ring. The author also proves that (1), (2), (3) are equivalent in the weakly symmetric rings, however (1), (2), (3) and (4) are not equivalent. The author also proves that the assignment to each ring of the maximal ideal space is functorial in the category of weakly symmetric rings satisfying (1).