On the intersection points of two plane algebraic curves (Q2290075)

The authors characterize sets \(\mathcal{X}\) of \(mn\) points that can be obtained as intersection points of two planar curves of respective degrees \(m\) and \(n\). This is the case if and only if any planar curve of degree \(\kappa = m + n - 3\) that contains all but one point of \(\mathcal{X}\) contains \(\mathcal{X}\) and no curve of degree less than \(\min\{m, n\}\) contains \(\mathcal{X}\). Necessity of these conditions is an immediate consequence of the Theorem of Cayley-Bacharach and Max Noether's fundamental theorem. The proof of sufficiency relies on a thorough discussion of (essentially) \(\varkappa\)-(in-)dependent point sets whose definition is related to the existence of interpolating algebraic curves of low degree. Along the way, several additional results on \(\varkappa\)-(in-)dependent sets on planar algebraic curves and their intersections are proved.