Ordered field valued continuous functions with countable range (Q2119285)

For a given topological space \(X\) and a totally ordered field \(F\) equipped with the order topology induced by its order, \(C(X, F)\) denotes the collection of all \(F\)-valued continuous functions on \(X\). It is easy to observe that \(C(X, F)\) together with the pointwise-defined operations of addition and multiplication is a commutative lattice ordered unitary ring. In the case \(F=\mathbb{R}\), \(C(X,F)\) is simply denoted by \(C(X)\). The subalgebra \(C_c(X)\) of \(C(X)\) consisting of all functions with countable image, was first introduced in [\textit{M. Ghadermazi} et al., Rend. Semin. Mat. Univ. Padova 129, 47--69 (2013; Zbl 1279.54015)], and later extensively studied in various papers such as [\textit{F. Azarpanah} et al., Rocky Mt. J. Math. 48, No. 2, 345--384 (2018; Zbl 1395.54013)] and [\textit{A. R. Olfati}, Commentat. Math. Univ. Carol. 57, No. 3, 365--379 (2016; Zbl 1374.54030)]. In [\textit{M. Ghadermazi} et al., loc. cit., Theorem 4.6], it was shown that when we are dealing with \(C_c(X)\), where \(X\) is any space (not necessarily even completely regular), we may take \(X\) to be zero-dimensional, by showing that there always exists a zero-dimensional space \(Y\) which is a continuous image of \(X\) and \(C_c(X)\) is isomorphic to \(C_c(Y)\). Note that a Hausdorff space containing a base of clopen sets is called zero-dimensional. The notion of \(CP\)-spaces was also introduced in the paper as the spaces \(X\) for which \(C_c(X)\) is a von-Neumann regular ring, and it was stated in [\textit{M. Ghadermazi} et al., loc. cit., Corollary 5.7] that in the class of zero-dimensional spaces, \(CP\)-spaces and \(P\)-spaces are identical. It was proved in [\textit{A. R. Olfati}, loc. cit., Theorem 2.2] that the structure space of \(C_c(X)\) is homeomorphic to \(\beta_0X\), the Banaschewski compactification of \(X\), and the maximal ideals of \(C_c(X)\) are precisely the ideals \(M_c^p=\{f\in C_c(X): p\in \mbox{cl}_{\beta_0X}Z(f)\}\) for \(p\in \beta_0X\). In the same paper, the ideals \(O_c^p=\{f\in C_c(X): p\in \mbox{int}_{\beta_0X}\mbox{cl}_{\beta_0X}Z(f)\}\), the countable analogue of the ideals \(O^p\) in \(C(X)\) were introduced, and, similar to [\textit{L. Gillman} and \textit{M. Jerison}, Rings of continuous functions. Reprint of the 1960 Van Nostrand edition. New York-Heidelberg-Berlin: Springer-Verlag (1976; Zbl 0327.46040)], it was proved that \(C_c^K(X)=\bigcap_{p\in \beta_0X\setminus X}O_c^p\) where \(C_K^c(X)\) denotes the set of all elements of \(C_c(X)\) with compact support [\textit{A. R. Olfati}, loc. cit., Theorem 2.4]. In the paper under review, the functionally countable subalgebra of \(C(X, F)\); \(C_c(X,F)\), is introduced and studied. Similar to [\textit{M. Ghadermazi} et al., loc. cit., Theorem 4.6], it is shown that for any topological space \(X\) and a totally ordered field \(F\), there exists a zero-dimensional space \(X\) such that \(C_c(X,F)\) is isomorphic to \(C_c(Y,F)\). Also, it is proved that the structure space of \(C_c(X, F)\) is homeomorphic to \(\beta_0X\). Moreover, the ideals \(O_c^{p,F}\), the analogue of \(O_c^p\), are introduced, and, similar to [\textit{A. R. Olfati}, loc. cit., Theorem 2.4], it is established that the set of all elements of \(C_c(X,F)\) with compact support equals \(\bigcap_{p\in \beta_0X\setminus X}O_c^{p,F}\). Finally, the notion of \(CP_F\)-spaces is introduced as the spaces for which \(C_c(X, F)\) is a (von-Neumann) regular ring, and it is shown that in the context of zero-dimensional spaces, \(CP_F\)-spaces coincide with \(P\)-spaces.