Abstract
It is argued that the time of arrival cannot be precisely defined and measured in quantum mechanics. By constructing explicit toy models of a measurement, we show that for a free particle it cannot be measured more accurately then where is the initial kinetic energy of the particle. With a better accuracy, particles reflect off the measuring device, and the resulting probability distribution becomes distorted. It is shown that a time-of-arrival operator cannot exist, and that approximate time-of-arrival operators do not correspond to the measurements considered here.
- Received 15 September 1997
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.57.4130
©1998 American Physical Society