The absolute fluorescence excitation function of the Ni 1200-¿ emission through photoexcitation of N2 has been measured in the 250--620 ¿ region using synchrotron radiation as the continuous tunable light source. The dissociative photoionization excitation of N2 involving the production of N i 1200-¿ emission and N+ ion has also been studied at several selected photon wavelengths shortward of 360 ¿ using a coincidence technique to detect the Ninfireset 1200-¿ fluorescence photon and the N+ ion. The maximum quantum yields for producing these processes are of the order of 6¿10-2. It was found that dissociative excitation processes can be competitive with the dissociative ionization excitation processes for the multiple-electron transition states. The present results suggest that the electronic states of N2 in the 320--340 ¿ region consist of both ion states of N+2 (Langhoff et al., 1981) and neutral states of N2, which could be the Rydberg states converging to N++2 (Sambe and Ramaker, 1986). ¿ American Geophysical Union 1994