ua nt - p h / 98 07 05 8 v 2 7 A ug 1 99 8 Time as an Observable

The role of time in quantum mechanics is discussed. The differences between ordinary observables and an observable which corresponds to the time of an event is examined. In particular, the time-of-arrival of a particle to a fixed location is not an ordinary quantum mechanical observable. While we can measure if the particle arrives, we argue that the time at which it arrives always has an inherent ambiguity. The minimum inaccuracy of time-of-arrival measurements is given by δt a > 1/E k where E k is the kinetic energy of the particle. The use of time-of-arrival operators, as well as current operators, is examined critically 1. 1 Many of the ideas presented here were first published in our previous work, Y. Aharonov, J.