EN
We extend an example of B. Aupetit, which illustrates spectral discontinuity for operators on an infinite-dimensional separable Hilbert space, to a general spectral discontinuity result in abstract Banach algebras. This can then be used to show that given any Banach algebra, Y, one may adjoin to Y a non-commutative inessential ideal, I, so that in the resulting algebra, A, the following holds: To each x ∈ Y whose spectrum separates the plane there corresponds a perturbation of x, of the form z = x + a where a ∈ I, such that the spectrum function on A is discontinuous at z.