Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
For a fixed positive integer n we consider the subgroup Γ0(n) of the modular group Γ(l). Γ0(n) consists of all linear fractional transformations L: z → (az + b)/(cz + d) with rational integers a, b, c, d, determinant ad – bc = 1, and c ≡ 0(mod n). If ℋ = {z|z = x + iy, x and y real and y > 0} is the upper half of the z-plane then S0 = S0(n) = ℋ/Γ0(n), properly compactified, is a compact Riemann surface whose genus we denote by g(n). A point P of a Riemann surface S of genus g is called a Weierstrass point if there exists a function on S that has a pole of order α ≦ g at P and is regular everywhere else on S.
Lehner and Newman started the search for Weierstrass points of S0 (or, loosely, of Γ0(n)).