2005A&A...438..987D

This paper reports the detection of a heavy element enriched RVTauri variable with an abundance pattern that differs significantly from a standard s-process enriched object: V453 Oph. Based on optical high-resolution spectra, we determined that this object of low intrinsic metallicity ([Fe/H]=-2.2) has a mild, but significant, enrichment ([s/Fe]~+0.5) of heavy elements for which the distribution points to slow neutron capture nucleosynthesis. This result is strengthened by a comparative analysis to the non-enriched RVTauri star DS Aqr ([s/Fe]=0.0). Although V453Oph is the first RVTauri star showing a strong s-process signature, it is not accompanied by C enhancement, challenging our current nucleosynthetic models of post-AGB stars that predict a simultaneous enrichment in C and s-process elements. The low N abundance excludes CN cycling as being responsible for the low C abundance. We explore three different scenarios to explain the heavy element distribution in this evolved object: an enrichment of the parental cloud, an accretion scenario in which the chemical patterns were acquired by mass transfer in a binary system and an intrinsic enrichment by dredge-up.