Let $k$ be a field, and let $| \ |$ be a norm on $k$. The norm induces a metric. To construct the completion $\hat{k}$ as a normed field, the standard recipe is to take the ring $\mathcal{C}(k)$ of all Cauchy sequences in $k$ -- viewed as a subring of $k^{\infty} = \prod_{i=1}^{\infty} k$ -- by the maximal ideal $\mathfrak{m}_0$ of all sequences converging to $0$.

This brings up the following [idle] question: what are the maximal ideals of $\mathcal{C}(k)$? The prime ideals?

My vague recollection had been that $\mathfrak{m}_0$ was the unique maximal ideal of $\mathcal{C}(k)$, but this is evidently not the case: for every $n$, there is a maximal ideal $\mathfrak{m}_n$ consisting of sequences whose $n$th coordinate is $0$, the residue field being $k$ again. It is easy to see though that $\mathfrak{m}_0$ is the unique maximal ideal containing the prime ideal $\mathfrak{c} = \bigoplus_{i=1}^{\infty} k$. (Note that $\mathfrak{c}$ is not prime in $k^{\infty}$, but it is prime in $\mathcal{C}(k)$.)

Now this reminds me of filters. The prime ideals of the (zero-dimensional) ring $k^{\infty}$ correspond precisely to the ultrafilters on $\mathbb{Z}^+$. The principal ultrafilter of all sets containing $n$ pulls back to the maximal ideal $\mathfrak{m}_n$. Since every nonprincipal ultrafilter contains the Frechet filter of cofinite sets, it follows that it pulls back to $\mathfrak{m}_0$. But is it true that every maximal ideal of $\mathcal{C}(k)$ is pulled back from a prime (= maximal) ideal of $k^{\infty}$? If so, is this an instance of a general theorem?

What is the analogue for the ring of minimal Cauchy filters in an arbitrary topological ring?