Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2024/iii/paper-119/2/b/solution

Let be connected and nonempty. The limit of the underlying diagram of commutative rings is the subring
If is nonzero in one component, it is nonzero in every component: field homomorphisms are injective, and connectedness propagates this fact along zigzags. Hence the componentwise inverses are defined and compatible. Thus is a field. Since the inclusion is full, the same cone is limiting in the category of fields.
If is disconnected, choose two components and use the constant field on one and on the other. There is no cone in fields because its apex would map to fields of two different characteristics. Hence does not have all limits of any disconnected shape.

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