Closed points of $\operatorname{Spec} R$ maximal?

222 Views Asked by At

Show that the closed points of $\operatorname{Spec} R$ are exactly the elements of $\operatorname{maxSpec} R$ that is, every closed point of $\operatorname{Spec} R$ is maximal.

Proof attempt:

Let $\{\mathfrak{p}\} \subset \operatorname{Spec}$ be closed. Then $\overline{\{\mathfrak{p}\}} = \{\mathfrak{p}\}$, but $\overline{\{\mathfrak{p}\}}$ is the smallest closed set containing $\mathfrak{p}$ and since the closed sets of the spectrum are of form $V(I)=\{ \mathfrak{p} \in \operatorname{Spec}R \mid \mathfrak{p} \supset I\}$ the smallest one containing $\mathfrak{p}$ is $V(\mathfrak{p})$, thus $$\{\mathfrak{p}\} = \overline{\{\mathfrak{p}\}} = V(\mathfrak{p})$$ and so there doesn't exist any prime ideal $\mathfrak{q}$ of $\operatorname{Spec}$ properly containg $\mathfrak{p}$. Since every maximal ideal is prime this implies that no maximal ideal contains $\mathfrak{p}$ so $\mathfrak{p}$ must be maximal.

Is the idea here correct? I'm wondering if there exists a maximal ideal that isn't a prime which would contain $\mathfrak{p}$ which would make this conclusion false.

1

There are 1 best solutions below

0
On

Your argument is correct. Remember that an ideal is prime if and only if the quotient is an integral domain, and maximal if and only if the quotient is a field. Thus any maximal ideal is prime.