Can spectral artefacts be the source of many superdeformed bands?

The surprising results of the application of the segmented Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) technique on published Superdeformed (SD) data show an unusual phase shift that we believe will have significant impact on the search for SD bands. This band-locator technique, developed for γ-ray spectra, can distinguish a unique spectral pattern in the presence of a multitude of other frequencies. It is a purely mathematical routine based on frequency-space descriptions of rotational bands. The results point to a situation where minor changes in the x-axis can actually generate regularly spaced artefact peaks that to some extent resemble the popular description of SD bands. Calibration techniques were investigated in order to find potential sources of these artefacts.