On nonregular ideals and z°-ideals in C(X)

The spaces X in which every prime z°-ideal of C(X) is either minimal or maximal are characterized. By this characterization, it turns out that for a large class of topological spaces X, such as metric spaces, basically disconnected spaces and one-point compactifications of discrete spaces, every prime z°-ideal in C(X) is either minimal or maximal. We will also answer the following questions: When is every nonregular prime ideal in C(X) a z°-ideal? When is every nonregular (prime) z-ideal in C(X) a z°-ideal? For instance, we show that every nonregular prime ideal of C(X) is a z°-ideal if and only if X is a ∂-space (a space in which the boundary of any zeroset is contained in a zeroset with empty interior).