The stationary state of a stochastic process on a ring can be expressed using
traces of monomials of an associative algebra defined by quadratic relations.
If one considers only exclusion processes one can restrict the type of algebras
and obtain recurrence relations for the traces. This is possible only if the
rates satisfy certain compatibility conditions. These conditions are derived
and the recurrence relations solved giving representations of the algebras.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX, Sec. 3 extended, submitted to J.Phys.