Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2014 / iii / Paper 23 / 1 / d / Solution

View $j$ as a meromorphic function on $X({\Gamma }_0(2))$, using its coordinate $t=j_2$. At the infinity modular cusp its pole order is one. At the zero modular cusp, $j(S\tau )=j(\tau )=q^{-1}+O(1)=q_0^{-2}+O(1)$, so its pole order is two. Part (c) identifies these poles with $t=\infty$ and $t=0$.

The zero of $j$ on the full modular curve lies at its order-three elliptic point. There are no effective order-three stabilizers in ${\Gamma }_0(2)$: their lifts have trace $\pm 1$, whose characteristic polynomial modulo two is $X^2+X+1$, whereas an upper triangular matrix over ${\mathbb{F}}_2$ has both diagonal entries one. Therefore the degree-three covering has exactly one point over that elliptic point, with analytic ramification index three. Its $t$-coordinate is $a=j_2(\omega )$, and the zero divisor of the pulled-back $j$ is $3[a]$.

A rational function with these zeros and poles must be $C(t-a{)}^3/t^2$. At the infinity modular cusp both $j$ and $t$ have leading coefficient one times $q^{-1}$, giving $C=1$. HenceThe proof fixes the coefficient and the powers using modular cusp cusp widths and elliptic ramification, rather than assuming a formula for the level-two coordinate.