  Signature effects observed in rotational bands are a consequence of an
inherent D2-symmetry. This symmetry is naturally broken by the mean field
cranking approximation when a tilted (non-principal) axis orientation of the
nuclear spin becomes stable. The possible tunneling forth and back between the
two symmetry-related minima in the double-humped potential-energy surface
appears as a typical bifurcation of the rotational band. We describe this
many-body process in which all nucleons participate by diagonalizing the
nuclear Hamiltonian within a selected set of tilted and non-tilted cranking
quasiparticle states. This microscopic approach is able to restore the broken
D2 symmetry and reproduce the quantum fluctuations between symmetry- related
HFB states which emerge as splitting of the band energies and in parallel
staggering in intraband M1 transitions.
