Subspaces with noninvertible elements in \(\mathrm{Re} C(X)\) (Q2496898)

Let \(\mathrm{Re} C(X)\) denote the space of real-valued continuous functions on a compact Hausdorff space \(X\). A subspace \(M \subset \mathrm{Re} C(X)\) is said to be a \(Z\)-subspace if each element vanishes at some point of \(X\). A question of natural interest that has received a lot of attention is: when is a \(Z\)-subspace contained in a maximal ideal? This is motivated by the well-known result of Gleason-Kahane-Żelazko that asserts this to be the case in the complex scalar field for \(Z\)-subspaces of codimension one (see [\textit{K.~Jarosz}, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 287, 779--785 (1985; Zbl 0537.46046)] for the finite-codimensional case). Let \(M\) be a \(Z\)-subspace. A closed set \(Y \subset X\) is said to be a \(Z\) support set for \(M\) if every element of \(M\) vanishes at a point of \(Y\). When \(M\) is of codimension \(n\), the author shows (Theorem 2.4) that one and only one of the following two statements holds for a minimal \(Z\) support set \(Y\): (1) \(Y\) is a singleton. (2) \(Y\) is a union of at most \(n\) nontrivial components.