Context. Astronomy is an observationally-led subject wherechance discoveries play an important role. The time domain is the leastexplored in astronomy. Aims. We alert spectroscopists, particularly those involved insurveys, that rapidly varying sources can induce periodic patterns inspectra. Methods. The analytical treatment is based on standard Fouriertheory. It is used to predict the shapes of features introduced byintensity pulses in spectra. These are the shapes that one must lookfor in spectral surveys. The theoretical analysis is supported bypublished experiments that measured the spectral modulation, in thevisible wavelength region, caused by pairs of 150femtosecondlaser pulses separated by time periods varying between s and s. Results. Detection of spectral signatures would allow thedetection of new classes of objects that emit bursts of pulsesseparated by time intervals that are too short to be detected withconventional techniques. The principal advantage of the technique isthat there is no need for specialized instruments or surveys: one mustonly incorporate algorithms capable of searching for periodicspectroscopic signals, such as those shown in a figure in this article,into existing data analyzis software and use it with standardspectroscopic surveys (including existing ones). Key words: techniques: spectroscopic - methods: data analysis - radiation mechanisms: general
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