Facilitated Asymmetric Exclusion

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We introduce a class of facilitated asymmetric exclusion processes in which particles are pushed by neighbors from behind. For the simplest version in which a particle can hop to its vacant right neighbor only if its left neighbor is occupied, we determine the steady state current and the distribution of cluster sizes on a ring. We show that an initial density downstep develops into a rarefaction wave that can have a jump discontinuity at the leading edge, while an upstep results in a shock wave. This unexpected rarefaction wave discontinuity occurs generally for facilitated exclusion processes.