Abstract

We propose the holographic principle as a dynamical cutoff for any quantum theory of gravity, incorporating ideas of effective field theory. This is done by viewing the holographic bound as a limit on the number of degrees of freedom that can be turned on before the geometrical picture of gravity loses applicability. We illustrate the proposal by revisiting the problem of defining a measure for homogeneous and isotropic space-times coupled to a scalar field and conclude by discussing the implications to the single scalar field inflationary model.