Bounds and self-consistent estimates for elastic constants of polycrystals of hcp solid He{sup 4}

Recent advances in methods for computing both Hashin-Shtrikman bounds and related selfconsistent (or CPA) estimates of elastic constants for polycrystals composed of randomly oriented crystals can be applied successfully to hexagonal close packed solid He{sup 4}. In particular, since the shear modulus C{sub 44} of hexagonal close-packed solid He is known to undergo large temperature variations when 20 mK {<=}#20; T {<=}#20; 200 mK, bounds and estimates computed with this class of effective medium methods, while using C{sub 44} {r_arrow} 0 as a proxy for melting, are found to be both qualitatively and quantitatively very similar to prior results obtained using Monte Carlo methods. Hashin- Shtrikman bounds provide significantly tighter constraints on the polycrystal behavior than do the traditional Voigt and Reuss bounds