Elementary properties of minimal and maximal points in Zariski spectra (Q2270118)

A general question this paper tries to answer is as follows: Given a commutative ring \(A\), if \(\mathrm{Spec}A\) has some given topological property, how is this property reflected in the arithmetic of A? It is known for instance that if \(\mathrm{Spec}A\) is connected, then the ring \(A\) has only trivial idempotents. More specifically, if \(\mathcal P\) is a topological property possessed (or not) by the prime spectra, the question is whether the class \(\mathcal R(\mathcal P)\) of all the rings whose prime spectrum has property \(\mathcal P\), is first order axiomatizable in the language \(\mathcal L=\{+,-,\cdot,0,1\}\) of rings. The authors are interested in explicit arithmetical descriptions of the class \(\mathcal R(\mathcal P)\). Still, more specifically, the authors focus on properties of spectra that are concerned with the space of maximal ideals or with the space of minimal prime ideals, or with how these spaces sit inside the full prime spectrum. A summary of results they obtain are as follows: If \(A\) is reduced, then the classes with the following properties of the Zariski spectra \(\mathrm{Spec}A\) are axiomatizable: Normal, Boolean (for von Neumann regular), singleton (for fields), inversely normal, minimal points singleton (for domains), maximal points Boolean, \((\mathrm{Spec}A)^{\max}\) proconstructible, maximal points singleton. On the other hand, the following properties of the spectra give non-axiomatizable classes: Completely normal, finite, linear, inversely completely normal, minimal points compact. If the ring is not reduced, then the only axiomatizable classes among that group of properties of \(\mathrm{Spec}A\) is for normal, maximal points Hausdorff, maximal points Boolean, \((\mathrm{Spec}A)^{\max}\) proconstructible and maximal points singleton (for local rings). A number of these results have been known, as pointed out by the authors. All the classes of rings in this recounting are pseudo-elementary. An open problem 10.4 is given.