LAUSR

Abstract In this paper, it is shown that the Boolean ring of a commutative ring is isomorphic to the ring of clopens of its prime spectrum. In particular, Stone's Representation Theorem is generalized. The prime spectrum of the Boolean ring of a given ring R is identified with the Pierce spectrum of R. The discreteness of prime spectra is characterized. It is also proved that the space of connected components of a compact space X is isomorphic to the prime spectrum of the ring of clopens of X. As another major result, it is shown that a morphism of rings between complete Boolean rings preserves suprema if and only if the induced map between the corresponding prime spectra is an open map.