``Incerto tempore, incertisque loci'': Can we compute the exact time at which a quantum measurement happens?

Abstract

Without addressing the measurement problem (i.e. what causes the wave function to ``collapse'', or to ``branch'', or a history to become realized, or a property to actualize), I discuss the problem of the timing of the quantum measurement: assuming that in an appropriate sense a measurement happens, when precisely does it happen? This question can be posed within most interpretations of quantum mechanics. By introducing the operator M, which measures whether or not the quantum measurement has happened, I suggest that, contrary to what is often claimed, quantum mechanics does provide a precise answer to this question, although a somewhat surprising one.