Algebraic properties of rings of continuous functions
This paper is devoted to the study of algebraic properties of rings of continuous functions. Our aim is to show that these rings, even if they are highly non-noetherian, have properties quite similar to the elementary properties of noetherian rings: we give going-up and going-down theorems, a characterization of z-ideals and of primary ideals having as radical a maximal ideal and a flatness criterion which is entirely analogous to the one for modules over principal ideal domains.