Emergent Gravity from an Augmented Variational Principle
  A direct and non-trivial link between Padmanabhan's entropy used in emergent gravity and standard GR action is established. To do that, Augmented Variational Principles (AVP) will be used. We shall discuss how this link accounts for the details of the variation of Padmanabhan's action based on gravitational entropy. It will also clarify the role of the background metric and its non-dynamical role. 
Matteo Tuveri, Lorenzo Fatibene and Marco Ferraris
gr-qc hep-th