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The hidden fluctuation-dissipation theorem for growth

In a stochastic process, where noise is always present, the fluctuation-dissipation theorem (FDT) becomes one of the most important tools in statistical mechanics and, consequently, it appears everywhere. Its major utility is to provide a simple response to study certain processes in solids and fluids. However, in many situations we are not talking about a FDT, but about the noise intensity. For example, noise has enormous importance in diffusion and growth phenomena. Although we have an explicit FDT for diffusion phenomena, we do not have one for growth processes where we have a noise intensity. We show that there is a hidden FDT for the growth phenomenon, similar to the diffusive one. Moreover, we show that growth with correlated noise presents as well a similar form of FDT. We also call attention to the hierarchy within the theorems of statistical mechanics and how this explains the violation of the FDT in some phenomena.