Optical spectroscopy of young {alpha}-rich stars

From a comparison of the abundance patterns of young {alpha}-rich stars to those of nearby bright red giants with a similar metallicity range (-0.7<[Fe/H]{<}-0.2), we confirm their high {alpha}-element abundances reported by previous studies based on near-infrared spectroscopy.

We reveal for the first time low abundances of s-process elements and high abundances of r-process elements. All the abundances are consistent with those seen in the typical {alpha}-rich population of the Galactic disk, and no abundance anomalies are found except for Li-enhancement in one object previously reported and mild enhancement of Na in two stars. In particular, the lack of s-process enhancement excludes the hypothesis that mass transfer from asymptotic giant branch stars plays an important role in the formation of young {alpha}-rich stars.