Spectral compactification of a ring (Q2910689)

Let \(A\) be a commutative ring. There is a natural way to embed \(A\) into a ring \(U\) with identity. The spectrum \(\text{Spec}(A)\) can then be embedded in \(\text{Spec}(U)\) which is compact in the Zariski topology. The closure of \(\text{Spec}(A)\) in \(\text{Spec}(U)\) is a compactification of \(\text{Spec}(A)\). If \(A\) has non-zero characteristic \(n\), there are two standard ways to embed \(A\) into a ring with identity, one of characteristic zero and one of characteristic \(n\). This leads to two different compactifications of \(\text{Spec}(A)\), which are shown to be homeomorphic.