Elliptic collinearity determinant

The determinant of the columns $(1,\wp (z),{\wp }^{\prime }(z))$, $(1,\wp (w),{\wp }^{\prime }(w))$ and $(1,\wp (-z-w),{\wp }^{\prime }(-z-w))$ vanishes identically. Its apparent cubic poles at $z=0,-w$ have order at most two because the coefficient multiplying the cubic-pole entry vanishes linearly. Column coincidences give six zeros, unless $3w$ is a lattice point, when they give four zeros with one multiple zero. In the half-period case, the two apparent zero locations at poles are removable zeros: ${\wp }^{\prime }(w)=0$ and the two $1/z$ terms cancel, leaving $O(z)$. Thus the zero count exceeds possible pole order in every case. The argument principle proves the identity, which expresses collinearity of the three points on the Weierstrass equation of an elliptic curve.

For distinct finite point classes on a complex elliptic curve, ordinary column determinants test whether a line meets the curve at those three points. Repeated columns instead vanish for a purely linear-algebraic reason. To prescribe a tangent intersection at $u$, replace the second equal column by its derivative; to prescribe a triple intersection, use $c(u),c^{\prime }(u),c^{\prime \prime }(u)$. These confluent determinants vanish exactly when the corresponding degree-three intersection divisor has point sum zero, away from the affine chart's pole. A local homogeneous lift supplies the version at the origin.