Numerical revision of the universal amplitude ratios for the two-dimensional 4-state Potts model

Monte Carlo (MC) simulations and series expansion (SE) data for the energy, specific heat, magnetization and susceptibility of the ferromagnetic 4-state Potts model on the square lattice are analyzed in a vicinity of the critical point in order to estimate universal combinations of critical amplitudes. The quality of the fits is improved using predictions of the renormalization group (RG) approach and of conformal invariance, and restricting the data within an appropriate temperature window. The RG predictions on the cancelation of the logarithmic corrections in the universal amplitude ratios are tested. A direct calculation of the effective ratio of the energy amplitudes using duality relations explicitly demonstrates this cancelation of logarithms, thus supporting the predictions of RG. We emphasize the role of corrections and of background terms on the determnination of the amplitudes. The ratios of the critical amplitudes of the susceptibilities obtained in our analysis differ significantly from those predicted theoretically and supported by earlier SE and MC analysis. This disagreement might signal that the two-kink approximation used in the analytical estimates is not sufficient to describe with fair accuracy the amplitudes of the 4-state model. version of September 26, 2008, Nancy 2