A universal survival ring of continuous functions which is not a universal lying-over ring (Q2393430)

All rings in the paper under review are commutative with \(1 \neq 0\). A ring \(R\) is a universal lying-over ring (ULO-ring) if \(R \subseteq T\) satisfies the lying-over property (LO) for every ring extension \(T\) of \(R\), and \(R\) is a universal survival ring (US-ring) if \(PT \neq T\) for every prime ideal \(P\) of \(R\) and ring extension \(T\) of \(R\). Clearly a ULO-ring is a US-ring. The authors first use the \(A + B\) construction to show that if \(2 \leq n \leq \infty\), then there is an \(n\)-dimensional US-ring which is not a ULO-ring. Most of the paper studies the ring \(R = C(Y)\) of real-valued continuous functions on \(Y\), where \(Y\) is the one-point compactification of the discrete space of cardinality \(\aleph_1\). They show that \(R\) is an infinite-dimensional US-ring which is not a ULO-ring and that \(R\) cannot be obtained using an \(A + B\) construction. They study the prime ideals (using ultra filters) and corresponding factor domains of \(R\). For example, they show that \(R/P\) is a divided domain for every prime ideal \(P\) of \(R\), and if the Continuum Hypothesis holds, then there is a minimal prime ideal \(P\) of \(R\) such that \(R/P\) is an infinite-dimensional valuation domain. However, it is consistent with ZFC that no such minimal prime ideals exist.