Obstructing extensions of the functor Spec to noncommutative rings (Q1936812)

The author proves that if \(F\) is a contravariant functor from the category of rings to the category of sets such that the restriction of \(F\) to the subcategory of commutative rings is isomorphic to \(Spec\) (the prime spectrum functor), then \(F(M_n(\mathbb{C}))=\emptyset\) for any \(n\geq 3\). An analogous result is proved in the context of \(C^*\)-algebras, by showing that for a contravariant functor \(F\) from the category of unital \(C^*\)-algebras to the category of sets whose restriction to the subcategory of commutative unital \(C^*\)-algebras is isomorphic to \(Max\) (the set of maximal ideals functor), one has \(F(M_n(\mathbb{C}))=\emptyset\) for any \(n\geq 3\).