Abstract

In nonrelativistic quantum theories with short-range Hamiltonians, a velocity v can be chosen such that the influence of any local perturbation is approximately confined to within a distance r until a time t∼r/v, thereby defining a linear light cone and giving rise to an emergent notion of locality. In systems with power-law (1/r^{α}) interactions, when α exceeds the dimension D, an analogous bound confines influences to within a distance r only until a time t∼(α/v)logr, suggesting that the velocity, as calculated from the slope of the light cone, may grow exponentially in time. We rule out this possibility; light cones of power-law interacting systems are bounded by a polynomial for α>2D and become linear as α→∞. Our results impose strong new constraints on the growth of correlations and the production of entangled states in a variety of rapidly emerging, long-range interacting atomic, molecular, and optical systems.