N-species stochastic models with boundaries and quadratic algebras

Stationary probability distributions for stochastic processes on linear chains with closed or open ends are obtained using the matrix product Ansatz. The matrices are representations of some quadratic algebras. The algebras and the types of representations considered depend on the boundary conditions. In the language of quantum chains we obtain the ground state of N-state quantum chains with free boundary conditions or with non-diagonal boundary terms at one or both ends. In contrast to problems involving the Bethe Ansatz, we do not have a general framework for arbitrary N which when specialized, gives the known results for N=2; in fact, the N=2 and N>2 cases appear to be very different.