What happens in the interval between the initial and final states of the interaction process?

What happens in between is everything and nothing. There is no privileged clearcut answer what happened that would be physically meaningful. It’s really the very basic point of quantum mechanics that only results of measurements are physically meaningful facts or observables; all other data are fictitious or uncertain. By the very definition of your problem, no measurement took place in the intermediate states which means that no sharp answers to any questions were generated, no answers or values became real or privileged or facts.

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But unlike classical physics, quantum mechanics says that not only the probabilities of each history matter. All the relative phases matter, too.

— answered Jan 9, 2021 at 16:10

— Luboš Motl

— Physics StackExchange

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2023.03.02 Thursday ACHK

This description is wrong.

Quantum superposition is exhibited in fact in many directly observable phenomena, such as interference peaks from an electron wave in a double-slit experiment.

— Wikipedia on Quantum superposition

Whatever you observe, it is not a superposition.

If no left-right detector is allowed, the moving-left/right variable is an unobservable. What you observe, instead, is the dot on the final screen.

In other words, the observable is the final position of a particle when it reaches the final screen. And the final screen itself acts as the detector for that observable.

Superposition is unobservable due to the lack of definition (of the distinction between different states) of the corresponding physical variable, due to the fact that no corresponding detector, such as the left-right detector, is allowed in the experimental design.

physical phenomena

~ observable events

Superposition

~ logically unobservable, since not yet defined

~ not yet defined, since logically undefinable

~ logically undefinable, since no corresponding detector is allowed

A superposition state is not an observable state. In other words, it is not a physical state. Then what is the point of considering it?

Although a superposition state is not a physical state, it is a mathematical state that can be used to calculate the probabilities of different possible physical-states/observable-events.

— Me@2022-07-06 06:00:55 PM

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2022.07.07 Thursday (c) All rights reserved by ACHK

an eigenstate

~ an state identical to the overall average

In analogy, in the equation

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the number 13 appears both on the left (as one of the component numbers) and on the right (as the overall average).

In this sense, the number 13 is an “eigenstate”.

— Me@2016-08-25 01:36 AM

— Me@2022-06-28 08:19 PM

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An eigenstate has a macroscopic equivalence.

— Me@2016-08-29 06:10:21 PM

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An eigenstate is a microstate that has a corresponding macrostate.

An eigenstate is a mathematical state which is also a physical state.

An eigenstate is an observable state.

— Me@2022-06-28 07:36:40 PM

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2022.06.28 Tuesday (c) All rights reserved by ACHK

Schrodinger’s cat, 3.2

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In 1935, Erwin Schrödinger devised a well-known thought experiment, now known as Schrödinger’s cat, which highlighted this dissonance between quantum mechanics and classical physics.

The main point of the Schrödinger’s cat thought experiment is NOT to prove that there should also be superposition for macroscopic objects. Instead, the main point of the thought experiment is exactly the opposite—to prove that regarding a superposition state as a physical state leads to logical contradiction.

— Me@2022-06-15 07:19:36 PM

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2022.06.22 Wednesday (c) All rights reserved by ACHK

It is natural to ask why ordinary everyday objects and events do not seem to display quantum mechanical features such as superposition. Indeed, this is sometimes regarded as “mysterious”, for instance by Richard Feynman. In 1935, Erwin Schrödinger devised a well-known thought experiment, now known as Schrödinger’s cat, which highlighted this dissonance between quantum mechanics and classical physics.

The modern view is that this mystery is explained by quantum decoherence. A macroscopic system (such as a cat) may evolve over time into a superposition of classically distinct quantum states (such as “alive” and “dead”). However, the state of the cat is entangled with the state of its environment (for instance, the molecules in the atmosphere surrounding it). If one averages over the quantum states of the environment—a physically reasonable procedure unless the quantum state of all the particles making up the environment can be controlled or measured precisely—the resulting mixed quantum state for the cat is very close to a classical probabilistic state where the cat has some definite probability to be dead or alive, just as a classical observer would expect in this situation.

Quantum superposition is exhibited in fact in many directly observable phenomena, such as interference peaks from an electron wave in a double-slit experiment. Superposition persists at all scales, provided that coherence is shielded from disruption by intermittent external factors. The Heisenberg uncertainty principle states that for any given instant of time, the position and velocity of an electron or other subatomic particle cannot both be exactly determined. A state where one of them has a definite value corresponds to a superposition of many states for the other.

— Wikipedia on Quantum superposition

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It is natural to ask why ordinary everyday objects and events do not seem to display quantum mechanical features such as superposition. Indeed, this is sometimes regarded as “mysterious”, for instance by Richard Feynman.

Superposition is not “mysterious”. It is “mysterious” only if you regard “a superposition state” as a physical state.

Only observable states are physical states. Any observable, microscopic or macroscopic, is NOT a superposition.

A superposition is NOT observable, even in principle; because the component states of a superposition are physically-indistinguishable mathematical states, aka macroscopically-indistinguishable microscopic states.

(Those component states, aka eigenstates, are observable and distinguishable once the corresponding measuring device is allowed.)

They are indistinguishable because the distinction is not defined in terms of the difference between different potential experimental or observational results.

Actually, the distinction is not even definable, because the corresponding measuring device is not allowed in the experimental design yet.

— Me@2022-06-15 11:51:22 AM

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2022.06.16 Thursday (c) All rights reserved by ACHK