No label defined (Q3972039)

From the introduction: This article will be an incomplete survey of development in the study of algebraic aspects of rings of continuous functions since the book of \textit{L. Gillman} and \textit{M. Jerison} in 1960 [Rings of continuous functions. Princeton etc.: D. Van Nostrand (1960; Zbl 0093.30001)]. As usual, le \(C(X)\) denote the ring (with the usual coordinate-wise operations of addition and multiplication) of continuous real-valued functions on a topological space \(X\). Under suitable restrictions on \(X\), the ring \(C(X)\) determines \(X\).\dots Section 1 consists mainly of a review of those parts of the book of Gillman and Jerison [loc. cit.] needed to set the stage for the sequel and to describe the nature of the subject, but some material that appeared after 1960 is included. In particular, some mention is made of R. L. Blair's work on \(z\)-embedding, and the work of A. Stone and W. Comfort on normality and local compactness not being preserved in going from \(X\) to \(\upsilon X\) is mentioned. Section 2 is devoted in part to the problems involved in translating topological concepts into algebraic language and vice versa. The complicated nature of real-compact spaces seems to make this difficult. Attempts to obtain internal algebraic characterizations of a \(C(X)\) are reviewed with particular emphasis on such an attempt by A. Hager. All such characterizations seem to rely on the representation theorem for \(\Phi\)-algebras as algebras of extended real-valued functions on a compact space due to D. G. Johnson and me. Section 3 consists mainly of a review of the efforts to classify \(H\)- fields (i.e., fields of the form \(C(X)/M\), where \(M\) is a maximal ideal of \(C(X)\), that contains \({\mathfrak R}\) properly. Through the use of model theory, set theory, and the theory of ultrafilters such more has been learned about \(H\)-fields than appeared in the Gillman-Jerison text, but much more remains to be done. Recent progress on integral domains that are homomorphic images of a \(C(X)\) is also described. In a final section, I mention briefly a few other related topics: discontinuous homomorphisms of \(C(X)\) into a Banach algebra, other algebraic structures on \(C(X)\), spaces of minimal prime ideals of \(C(X)\), and covers and completions. [For the entire collection see Zbl 0699.00020.]