Clean rings of continuous functions (Q868730)

\textit{W. K. Nicholson} introduced the concept of clean rings in [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 229, 269--278 (1977; Zbl 0352.16006)]; these are rings in which every element is the sum of an idempotent and a unit. In the paper [Acta Math. Hungar. 94, 53--58 (2002; Zbl 0996.54023)], \textit{F. Azarpanah} has shown that \(C(X)\) is clean if and only if \(X\) is strongly zero-dimensional, where \(C(X)\) is the ring of all real-valed continuous functions on a completely regular Hausdorff space \(X\). In the paper under review, the authors show in Theorem 3.7 that if \(A\) is a dense clean subring of \(\mathbb{R}\) which is not a field, but \(1\in A\) and if \(X\) is a zero dimensional completely regular Hausdorff space, then \(C(X,A)\) is a clean ring if and only if \(X\) is a \(P\)-space. Here \(C(X,A)\) is the ring of all \(A\)-valued continuous functions on \(X\). But the present paper gives several more important and interesting results. In particular, the authors give detailed descriptions of the prime and maximal ideal spectra, Spec\((R)\) and Max\((R)\) where \(R\) is \(C(X,A)\) or \(C^{*}(X,A)=\{f\in C(X,A): f \) is bounded\(\}\). In this regard, Corollary 4.3 is a very interesting and detailed result for an infinite \(P\)-space \(X\). In order to complete the description of the spectra, the authors introduce the concepts of \(c\)-ideal and \(Z_{\beta}\)-ideal in \(C(X,A)\) and \(C^{*}(X,A)\), respectively. For \(c\)-ideals, Corollary 4.10 is an interesting result. Concerning \(c\)-ideals and \(Z_{\beta}\)-ideals, the authors state the following conjecture: Let \(1\in A\) be a dense local subring of \(\mathbb{R}\) that is not a field and let \(X\) be an infinite \(P\)-space. Then a maximal ideal of \(C^{*}(X,A)\) is either a \(c\)-ideal or a \(Z_{\beta}\)-ideal. By assuming that the conjecture holds, it is shown that Max\((C^{*}(X,A))\) is homeomorphic to \(\beta X \coprod (\beta X\setminus \upsilon X).\) The paper is well written with well-organized sections and clearly presented proofs.