Noncollisional excitation of low-lying states in gaseous nebulae

Consideration is given to the effects of processes other than electron collisional excitation on the energy level populations of species of C, N, and O. It is found that dielectronic as well as direct-radiative recombination may contribute significantly and in some cases be the major input to populating the low-lying metastable levels. It is concluded that the most pronounced changes occur when there is a large effective recombination coefficient to a level and when T(e) is low. The most dramatic change among the forbidden lines occurs for the O II forbidden lines.