  We explore the formation of alpha-enhanced and metal-rich stellar populations
in the nuclei of luminous ellipticals under the assumption of two extreme
galaxy formation scenarios based on hierarchical clustering, namely a fast
clumpy collapse and the merger of two spirals. We investigate the parameter
space of star formation time-scale, IMF slope, and stellar yields. In
particular, the latter add a huge uncertainty in constraining time-scales and
IMF slopes. We find that -- for Thielemann, Nomoto & Hashimoto nucleosynthesis
-- in a fast clumpy collapse scenario an [alpha/Fe] overabundance of approx.
0.2 dex in the high metallicity stars can be achieved with a Salpeter IMF and
star formation time-scales of the order 10^9 yr. The scenario of two merging
spirals which are similar to our Galaxy, instead, fails to reproduce
alpha-enhanced abundance ratios in the metal-rich stars, unless the IMF is
flattened during the burst ignited by the merger. This result is independent of
the burst time-scale. We suggest that abundance gradients give hints to
distinguish between the two extreme formation scenarios considered in this
paper.
