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# The flux-dependent amplitude of broadband noise variability in X-ray binaries and active galaxies

## 1 Introduction

The broadband noise variability which characterises the X-ray lightcurves of both X-ray binary systems (XRBs) and active galactic nuclei (AGN) is commonly modelled as a shot-noise process. The simplest shot-noise models, where the lightcurve is constructed from a stochastic series of independent overlapping shots with a single characteristic decay time-scale (e.g. Terrell 1972), produce a red-noise type power spectrum at high frequencies ($`P(\nu )\nu ^\alpha `$, where $`\alpha =2`$), which flattens to $`\alpha =0`$ at low frequencies (i.e. the variability becomes white-noise on long time-scales). This simple form is qualitatively similar to the power-spectral shapes of XRBs, which flatten below $`0.1`$ Hz (e.g. van der Klis 1995) and AGN, which flatten on much longer time-scales ($`<10^6`$ Hz, McHardy 1988, Edelson & Nandra 1999), but fails to reproduce the typically observed red-noise slopes, $`\alpha 1.0`$. More complex shot-noise models, which invoke a broad distribution of decay time-scales, can reproduce the correct high-frequency shapes (Lehto 1989; Lochner, Swank & Szymkowiak 1991), including the additional high-frequency break which is seen above $`1`$ Hz in some XRB power spectra (e.g. Cyg X-1, Belloni & Hasinger 1990). Physical interpretations of shots typically invoke magnetic flares in the X-ray emitting corona which is likely to be common to both XRBs and AGN (e.g. Poutanen & Fabian 1999).
It is well-known that the power spectra of XRBs are non-stationary (i.e. have a variable shape and amplitude) on long time-scales ($`>`$days, e.g. Belloni & Hasinger 1990). There is some evidence for non-stationarity of AGN power spectra on much longer time-scales (Uttley et al. 1999). The shot-noise models described above can account for non-stationary power-spectra by invoking changes in the parameters of the shot-noise process on long time-scales, but predict that on short time-scales the power spectrum should be stationary. Because individual power-spectra measured on very short time-scales (seconds) are noisy, this prediction is difficult to test. However, we can test whether power-spectral shape and/or amplitude varies systematically with short time-scale variations in X-ray flux by binning the power-spectra of small segments of observed XRB and AGN lightcurves according to their flux.
The relationship between long-time-scale variations in flux and power-spectral amplitude has been studied in a few XRBs, e.g. a somewhat complex correlation between RMS variability and flux has been noted during the decay of the hard X-ray transient GRO J0422+32 (Denis et al. 1994). Surprisingly, the possibility of systematic short-time-scale variations of power-spectral shape and amplitude with flux has not previously been investigated in detail. The standard practice of normalising power spectra by squared mean flux (and RMS variability by mean flux), for comparison between different objects and instruments, causes information regarding the flux to be lost. In this letter, we show that this practice has helped to keep hidden a startling fact about the X-ray variability of XRBs and AGN: that the RMS variability of their broadband noise component scales with flux variations on time-scales as short as seconds, while the power-spectral shape remains constant. This discovery poses particular problems for standard shot-noise models, as we shall discuss.

## 2 The flux-dependent variability of X-ray Binaries

We obtained public archival data from Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) observations of Cyg X-1 (in the low state), observed 23 October 1996 (Nowak et al. 1999) and the recently discovered accreting millisecond pulsar, SAX J1808.4-3658 (Wijnands & van der Klis 1998a), observed 18 April 1998, of duration 18 ksec and 23 ksec respectively (using the PCA instrument and including only periods where all 5 Proportional Counter Units (PCUs) were switched on). Cyg X-1 is an obvious choice for study, as it is the most well-known black hole X-ray binary. The accreting millisecond pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658 is a good example of a neutron star system which displays strong broadband noise variability, so any similarity in the variations of the power spectra of these objects will provide strong evidence that the power-spectral variability is intrinsic to the process that produces the broadband noise, independent of whether the central object has a hard surface or an event horizon. Furthermore, the observations we select show no evidence for discernable low-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) or components other than the broadband noise which we wish to investigate here. Using PCA binned and event mode data from the observations of Cyg X-1 and SAX J1808.4-3658 respectively, we made lightcurves with a resolution of 16 ms for each source in the 2–13.1 keV energy range. The mean fluxes in this energy range are 3377 count s-1 and 409 count s-1 for Cyg X-1 and SAX J1808.4-3658 respectively.
We first investigated the dependence of RMS variability on local X-ray flux, in other words, does the RMS variability of a small section of lightcurve depend on the mean flux of that section of lightcurve? In order to answer this question, we split each lightcurve into 10 s segments and measured the power spectrum for each segment (subtracting the contribution due to Poisson noise estimated from the mean total count rate of the lightcurve segment). We applied the standard RMS-squared normalisation to the power spectrum, so that integrating the power over a given frequency range yields the contribution to lightcurve variance due to variations in that frequency range. Taking the square root of the integrated power yields the RMS variability $`\sigma `$. By using this method, rather than simply measuring $`\sigma `$ directly from the lightcurve, we can study how the amplitude of the power spectrum in a defined frequency range responds to changes in flux. We first chose to measure $`\sigma `$ over the frequency range 0.1-10 Hz, which incorporates the full spectrum of broadband noise from white-noise to red-noise, as can be seen from the power spectra of these observations (Nowak et al. 1999, Wijnands & van der Klis 1998b). Due to the stochastic nature of red-noise lightcurves, there is significant scatter in individual measures of $`\sigma `$, so we binned $`\sigma `$ as a function of segment flux using relatively narrow flux bins to examine the form of the $`\sigma `$-flux relationship over a broad range of flux. Using a minimum number of 30 measurements per bin to ensure an accurate estimate of the standard error in the mean $`\sigma `$, the resulting $`\sigma `$-flux relation for both sources is plotted in Fig. 1. The lightcurves of both Cyg X-1 and SAX J1808.4-3658 show a remarkably linear dependence of RMS variability on flux.
Visual inspection of Fig. 1 shows that the $`\sigma `$-flux trend in both sources does not pass through the origin, i.e. there is a constant offset in flux and possibly also $`\sigma `$. To test the goodness of fit of a linear model, including a constant offset from the origin, we fitted a function of the form $`\sigma =k(FC)`$, where $`F`$ is the flux and $`k`$ and $`C`$ are constants. This linear model provides a good fit to the data, yielding $`\chi ^2`$ values of 28.7 (for 22 degrees of freedom) for Cyg X-1 and 17.2 (20 degrees of freedom) for SAX J1808.4-3658. The best fitting model parameters were $`k=0.326\pm 0.017`$, $`C=850\pm 130`$ count s-1 for Cyg X-1 and $`k=0.305\pm 0.026`$, $`C=81\pm 30`$ count s-1 for SAX J1808.4-3658 (uncertainties are at the 90% confidence level for 2 interesting parameters). Note that the gradient of the $`\sigma `$-$`F`$ trend $`k`$, is equivalent to the fractional RMS variability of the variable-$`\sigma `$ component of the lightcurve. The constant $`C`$ represents a second component to the lightcurve, which does not follow the linear $`\sigma `$-$`F`$ trend but may still contribute to the total value of $`\sigma `$. It is not possible to disentangle the mean flux level of this second, constant-$`\sigma `$ component and the contribution it makes to the total $`\sigma `$, however the value of $`C`$ represents the flux of this component in the limit where it does not vary.

Changes in RMS variability measured over a given frequency range may be associated with changes in power spectral amplitude and/or shape. For example, Belloni & Hasinger (1990) show that the fractional RMS variability of Cygnus X-1 is well correlated with changes in the position of the low-frequency break in the power spectrum, but note that these variations occur on long time-scales and show no relationship to X-ray flux. It seems unlikely that the strict linear relationship we have found between RMS variability and flux could be caused by changes in power-spectral shape over the entire 0.1–10 Hz frequency range, because the power spectrum over this range is not a simple power law. Instead, the simplest explanation is that only the power-spectral amplitude changes. We can confirm this interpretation of the $`\sigma `$-flux relation by plotting power spectra which are binned according to lightcurve flux. Fig. 2 shows flux-binned power spectra of Cygnus X-1, obtained by averaging the power spectra of lightcurve segments of 32 s duration, according to whether the segment flux occupies the first or fourth quartile of the overall distribution of fluxes. The resulting power spectra correspond to fluxes of 3092 count s-1 and 3679 count s-1 for the first and fourth flux quartiles respectively, and show that the amplitude of the broadband noise variability responds to flux in the same way across the entire power spectrum. There does not appear to be any systematic change in power spectral shape. We obtain a similar result for SAX J1808.4-3658.

## 3 The flux-dependent variability of AGN

Given the strong similarities between the power-spectral shapes of AGN and XRBs, which suggest that the same variability processes are at work, independent of the mass of the central object, we might expect AGN to show the same flux-dependent X-ray variability as XRBs. To test this possibility, we obtained quasi-continuous lightcurves of $``$days duration for three Seyfert galaxies, NGC 4051, NGC 5506 and MCG-6-30-15, observed in Dec 1996, Jun 1997 and Aug 1997 respectively and available in the RXTE public archive. Because PCUs 3 and 4 were switched off for much of the duration of each observation, we only use data from PCUs 0, 1 and 2. We make the lightcurves from Standard 2 data, in the 2–10 keV energy band, using data from only the top layer of each PCU in order to minimise the contribution of instrumental background which adds to the Poisson noise level, applying standard selection criteria (e.g. as described in Uttley 1999) to extract good time intervals, and estimating background lightcurves using the L7 model. The observations are of total useful exposures $`75`$ ks, 90 ks and 340 ks for NGC 4051, NGC 5506 and MCG-6-30-15 respectively. We made power spectra from continuous lightcurve segments of length $`2500`$ s (corresponding to periods between Earth occultations of the source), and measured the Poisson-noise-subtracted integrated power in the $`5\times 10^3`$$`5\times 10^4`$ Hz frequency range.
Due to the faint nature and lower variability (relative to XRBs) of AGN on the time-scales sampled, we average the integrated power into two flux bins, corresponding to mean segment fluxes lying below or above the mean flux of the entire observation. The resulting integrated powers (including standard errors) are shown in Table 1. Note that we do not directly determine the RMS variability, $`\sigma `$ for each segment, because statistical fluctuations in the true Poisson noise level, combined with the relatively small amount of high-frequency power seen in AGN lightcurves, sometimes lead to negative integrated powers after subtraction of the noise estimate. Segments with negative integrated power cannot be used to determine $`\sigma `$, but can be used to determine the mean $`\sigma ^2`$ and its error (note that the fractional RMS can be estimated from the mean $`\sigma ^2`$ and is also shown in Table 1).

These data clearly show that the variance of the X-ray lightcurves of all three AGN is dependent on X-ray flux, and furthermore the relationship between the RMS variability and the mean segment flux seems to be linear, such that the fractional RMS variability remains approximately constant, despite significant flux changes (e.g. $``$factor 3 for NGC 4051). There is not sufficient data to confirm the existence of a constant flux component to the AGN lightcurves, of the same relative strength as that seen in the XRBs, although we note that the existence of such a component is not ruled out.

## 4 Discussion

The relation between flux and the amplitude of broadband noise variability which we have presented here, suggests that the lightcurves of XRBs (and possibly AGN) are made from at least two components. One component shows a striking linear dependence of RMS variability on flux, while the other component may contribute a constant RMS to the lightcurve or, more simply, may not vary at all. We can crudely estimate the spectral shape of this second, possibly constant component by determining the RMS-flux relation for lightcurves in four energy bands and measuring the value of the intercept on the flux axis ($`C`$) for each band. In Fig. 3 we plot the value of $`C`$ in each energy band expressed as a fraction of the mean flux in that band. The errors on the relative flux are determined from errors in $`C`$ estimated from fitting a linear model to the RMS vs. flux data for that energy band. Note however that because the fluxes in each energy band are strongly correlated with one another (e.g. Maccarone, Coppi & Poutanen 2000), the relative uncertainty between energy bands is likely to be significantly smaller than indicated by the error bars we determine here. With this caveat in mind, Fig. 3 suggests that, if $`C`$ represents the flux of a constant component to the lightcurve, its spectral shape is very similar to that of the total spectrum and hence the variable component.

This result seems strange if we naively expect that any constant components to the lightcurve should have a different origin and therefore a different spectrum to the variable component. We note however, that provided that the temperature of the corona is maintained, it will continue to Comptonise seed photons regardless of whether it is dynamically variable (e.g. flaring) or ‘quiet’ and non-variable. Therefore the constant component to the X-ray lightcurve may be associated with quiet regions of the corona or patches of the corona above inactive regions of the accretion disk (if variability is driven by variations in seed photon number). The $`25`$% of total flux which the constant component contributes could indicate a $`25`$% covering fraction of quiet coronal regions (this may represent a time-averaged covering fraction, since coronal regions might switch from being quiet to being variable). An alternative possibility is that the constant component is due to Thomson scattering of the primary continuum photons in extended, hot gas with radius $`R>10`$ light-seconds to smear out any variability, temperature $`T10`$ keV so that no absorption edges are observed and optical depth $`\tau 0.25`$. However, a plasma of this extent should be a strong source of thermal bremsstrahlung emission. Assuming a spherical geometry and uniform density, the bremsstrahlung luminosity from the extended plasma region would scale linearly with its radius so that such a region would contribute $`>10`$% of the X-ray luminosity of the system in bremsstrahlung emission and is ruled out by observations.
The variable component of the lightcurve shows a linear dependence of RMS variability on flux, which is not consistent with the expectations of simple shot-noise models, which predict that the power spectrum is stationary. At first glance, the obvious explanation is that the parameters of the shot-noise process are changing on short time-scales. For example, if the average amplitude of shots varies on short time-scales, the flux and RMS variability will vary in proportion to the shot amplitude. Hence the linear relation between RMS variability and flux reflects the linear relationship of both variables to a single underlying varying parameter, the shot amplitude. However, this model cannot simply explain why the RMS variability is dependent on flux on all measured time-scales, a fact which becomes apparent if we plot the RMS-flux relation for Cygnus X-1 using 1 s time bins, determining $`\sigma `$ in the 2–20 Hz frequency range (see Fig. 4). The fact that the linear relationship between $`\sigma `$ and flux extends to a greater range of fluxes than are obtained by determining the relation using 10 s segments, implies that the linear RMS-flux relation applies to flux variations on time-scales as low as 1 s (which are averaged out by the 10 s segments used earlier). Therefore, if shot parameter variations are the cause of the RMS-flux relation, they must occur on as broad a range of time-scales as the variations in the lightcurve itself (at least down to 1 s), and we are left with the circular problem of trying to explain the broadband noise in X-ray lightcurves with a model which itself requires a broadband noise component (to describe the variation in shot parameters) in order to be consistent with the data.

The simplest solution may be to discard the standard shot-noise models altogether. Instead, the linear dependence of RMS variability on flux may be more simply explained if the lightcurves are instead made ‘from the top down’, with the primary cause of variability being large, long-time-scale variations on which the shorter-time-scale variations are later superimposed. For example, large-scale energy releases in the corona (e.g. through magnetic reconnection) might further sub-divide into a fractal structure, where the energy emitted by each sub-unit is proportional to the energy of its parent unit, but the time-scales for energy emission and the number of sub-units remain independent of total energy content (perhaps related to characteristic time-scales in the corona or disk).
Interestingly, a linear dependence of RMS variability on flux is a natural outcome of the mechanism for producing red-noise variability proposed by Lyubarskii (1997), where fluctuations in mass accretion rate at different disk radii are propagated through the disk to produce variations on all time-scales in the inner disk (and associated corona). In this model, fractional variations in mass accretion rate are produced on time-scales greater than the viscous time-scale, so that longer time-scale variations are produced in the outer disk and shorter time-scale variations in accretion rate are superimposed on them as they propagate inwards. Thus, a linear RMS-flux relation will be produced if the fractional amplitude of accretion rate variations is independent of the actual accretion rate (as suggested by the model, which assumes that changes in accretion rate are caused by fractional fluctuations in the disk viscosity parameter). Either of these suggested models might, in principle, explain the RMS-flux relation we see, but we leave a detailed comparison of their predictions with observations for a future work.

## 5 Conclusions

We have shown that the amplitude of the broadband noise variability in the lightcurves of the black hole candidate Cyg X-1 and the millisecond X-ray pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658 is dependent on flux, in that the RMS variability for a given segment of the lightcurve scales (on average) linearly with the segment mean flux. The linear relation between flux and RMS variability has a positive offset on the flux axis, suggesting the existence of a second, constant-flux component to the lightcurve which contributes $`25`$% of the total flux. The shape of the power spectrum (at least on short time-scales) remains independent of flux. The X-ray lightcurves of AGN are also consistent with the same linear scaling of RMS variability with flux, suggesting that this behaviour is an intrinsic feature of the broadband noise, which is characteristic of the lightcurves of compact accreting systems across at least 6 decades of central object mass.
The spectrum of the constant component to the lightcurve is similar to the total spectrum, suggesting that it may correspond to quiet, non-variable regions in the X-ray emitting corona. The unusual behaviour of the variable component of the lightcurve, is inherently difficult to explain using standard shot-noise models. An alternative, ‘top down’ approach is more suitable, where the longest-time-scale variations precede the smallest. Possibilities include large coronal flaring regions which break down into a fractal structure of smaller sub-units, or models where variability is caused by variations in mass accretion rate which propagate through the disk, so that shorter time-scale variations from the inner parts of the disk are superimposed on longer time-scale variations from further out.
If the linear RMS-flux relation is indeed common to the broadband noise variability of all compact accreting systems, it should provide a useful tool for separating out components of lightcurves which are not related to the broadband noise component. It will also prove interesting to see how other features of XRB power spectra (such as QPOs) scale with flux.

### Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the anonymous referee for useful comments. This research has made use of data obtained from the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC), provided by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.


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# Physical Conditions in the Foreground Gas of Reflection Nebulae: NGC 2023, vdB 102, and NGC 7023

## 1 Introduction

Stars form under the gravitational collapse of gas and dust in interstellar molecular clouds. When a newly-formed star interacts with the surrounding material, the cloud’s physical conditions are altered. For instance, early type stars create photodissociation regions (PDRs), which are boundary layers between a source of far ultraviolet (FUV) radiation and the predominantly neutral cloud (Jaffe et al. 1990). These boundaries also exist between H II regions produced by O stars and the ambient material surrounding them. In photodissociation regions, the FUV radiation dominates the heating and chemical processes (Tielens & Hollenbach 1985a, 1985b; Hollenbach & Tielens 1999, HT99) and controls which atoms and molecules are observed. The observed relative abundances of atomic and molecular species and the use of chemical models yields the physical conditions in the PDR. These conditions provide clues to processes that occurred immediately following star formation. In this paper, we describe results for foreground PDR’s in three reflection nebulae based on measurements of absorption at visible and ultraviolet wavelengths occurring at the velocity of the PDR behind the illuminating source seen via emission lines. While absorption is sometimes seen at other velocities, the main components all have velocities consistent with the molecular cloud. From this fact, we infer an association with the material behind the star.

PDRs in molecular clouds and reflection nebulae have been studied extensively at all wavelengths. Analyses have been based on measurements from x-rays to radio wavelengths. Specific observations on the nebulae studied here are given below. In an effort to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the conditions that prevail in these regions, one dimensional, time-independent models have been developed (e.g., Tielens & Hollenbach 1985a, 1985b; van Dishoeck & Black 1986; Hollenbach, Takahashi & Tielens 1991; Draine & Bertoldi 1996, 1999). More realistic PDR models with clumpy structure and time dependent effects have been attempted as well (Meixner & Tielens 1993; Hollenbach & Natta 1995; Bertoldi & Draine 1996). Hollenbach & Tielens (1999) provide a comprehensive review of observations and modeling efforts for photodissociation regions.

Little attention has been given to studying PDRs through atomic and molecular absorption in the visible and ultraviolet portions of the spectrum observed along the line of sight to the central or illuminating star(s) . Federman et al. (1997 - hereafter Paper I) analyzed visible spectra for the line of sight toward HD 200775, which illuminates the reflection nebula NGC 7023. In an effort to expand upon this work, we obtained high resolution visible spectra toward NGC 2023 and vdB 102 as well as ultraviolet data on atoms and CO molecules in the reflection nebulae, NGC 2023 and NGC 7023. The ultraviolet data were obtained from the $`International`$ $`Ultraviolet`$ $`Explorer`$ ($`IUE`$) archive, which was recalibrated with the New Spectral Image Processing System (NEWSIPS). The visible and UV absorption spectra yield information about the chemical composition and the physical conditions present in the foreground PDR. A more complete picture of PDRs emerges when the physical conditions in front of the star are compared to those inferred from analyses of data obtained at other wavelengths of the main molecular cloud behind the star.

### 1.1 NGC 2023

NGC 2023 is a reflection nebula embedded in the L1630 molecular cloud (Jaffe et al. 1990) in the constellation of Orion. Infrared images of the nebula (Gatley et al. 1987; Field et al. 1994, 1998) show that it has a 6 extent with visible filamentary structures throughout and is approximately centered on the star HD 37903. In a far-infrared study, Harvey, Thronson, & Gatley (1980) showed that the molecular cloud lies behind HD 37903, which is located at a distance of 470 pc (Perryman et al. 1997). Several Herbig-Haro objects, which are associated with pre-main sequence stars, are observed in the nebula. Two Herbig-Haro objects (HH4 and HH5) in the southeastern part of the nebula are illuminated by star C (Malin, Ogura & Walsh 1987). Star C is thought to be a T Tauri star based on spectroscopy and its near infrared excess. Many embedded infrared sources have also been detected (Strom et al. 1975). Wyrowski et al. (2000) detected a ultra-high density clump ($`n`$ 107 cm-3) which they propose could be the early stages of a protostar. Thus, NGC 2023 is an active region of star formation (Strom et al. 1975; Malin et al. 1987; Lada et al. 1991; Freyberg & Schmitt 1995).

The primary illuminating source for this nebula is HD 37903, a B1.5 V star with an effective temperature of approximately 22,000 K (Field et al. 1998). The radiation from this star has enough energy at $`\lambda `$ $``$ 912 Å to form an H II region, 0.015 pc in size, detected by radio continuum emission at the star’s position within the nebula (Pankonin & Walmsley 1976, 1978; Wyrowski et al. 2000). The photons with $`\lambda `$ $``$ 912 Å create a photodissociation region between the H II region and the rest of the neutral cloud. The proximity of the nebula and its bubble shaped geometry (Gatley et al. 1987) make it an ideal target for studying the interaction of the UV radiation from HD 37903 with the molecular material in L1630. tHE reflection nebula and its PDR have been extensively studied via x-ray (Freyberg & Schmitt 1995), ultraviolet (Witt, Bohlin, & Stecher 1984 - hereafter WBS84; Cardelli, Clayton, & Mathis 1989 - hereafter CCM89; Buss et al. 1994), infrared (e.g., Martini, Sellgren, & DePoy 1999 and references therein), millimeter (Jaffe et al. 1990), and radio observations (Fuente, Martín-Pintado & Gaume 1995; Lebrón & Rodríguez 1997; Wyrowski et al. 1997, 2000). The studies relevant to our work will be discussed in detail later.

### 1.2 vdB 102

The central star of vdB 102 is HD 147009, an A0 V star, with an effective temperature of about 9,500 K (de Geus, de Zeeuw & Lub 1989 - hereafter GZL89). This nebula was first catalogued and photometrically studied (van den Bergh 1966; Racine 1968) in the late 1960’s. The nebula is 160 pc away (Perryman et al. 1997) and is one of 10 reflection nebulae in the Sco OB2 Association (van den Bergh 1966; Vallée 1987; Eggen 1998). The stars in Sco OB2 illuminate different portions of the same molecular cloud. Radio observations reveal the presence of the parent molecular cloud (Kutner et al. 1980; Vallée 1987). Few observational efforts have examined the reflection nebula and its illuminating star (Chaffee & White 1982; Cappa de Nicolau & Pöppel 1986; Vallée 1987; Federman et al. 1994). For this reason, the present study greatly improves upon our knowledge of PDRs around relatively cool stars.

The remainder of the paper is organized in the following manner. In §2 we discuss the optical and ultraviolet observations obtained for this study, as well as the consistency of our measurements with previous efforts. We describe the chemical and atomic analyses performed here and the results of these analyses as well as a comparison with our earlier results on HD 200775 (Paper I) in §3. We discuss in §4 the derived physical conditions and compare them with the physical conditions obtained through diagnostics at other wavelengths. Our conclusions are found in §5. An Appendix describes checks on the usefulness of NEWSIPS data for interstellar studies such as ours.

## 2 Observations and Data Reduction

### 2.1 Ground-based Observations

#### 2.1.1 McDonald 2dcoudé Data

High-resolution echelle spectra of HD 37903, HD 147009 and 20 Aql were taken with the 2.7 m telescope of the University of Texas McDonald Observatory during June 1996, July 1997, and January 1998. Observations of 20 Aql were made since it allows for the comparison of our optical data with others and it is located behind a relatively isolated cloud for an additional test of the atomic analysis discussed below. The “2dcoudé” spectrograph (Tull et al. 1995) was used with 2 camera setups and a Tektronix charge coupled device (CCD) was the detector. One camera provided high spectral resolution with a resolving power at 4000 Å of R $``$ 180,000 ($`\mathrm{\Delta }`$v $``$ 2 km s-1) and covered the wavelength range 3800 Å to 4400 Å. This high resolution mode yielded spectra containing 8 disjoint echelle orders approximately 15 Å wide, separated by approximately 65 Å. This setup provided spectra on the following interstellar species CH+, CH, CN, Ca II K, and Ca I. The second camera setting resulted in moderate spectral resolution with a resolving power at 7000 Å of R $``$ 52,000 ($`\mathrm{\Delta }`$v $``$ 6 km s-1) and covered a wavelength range from 3600 Å to 9700 Å. The moderate resolution spectra consisted of 59 orders with an overlap of about 15 Å at the blue end. The inter-order separation increased with wavelength until there was approximately 150 Å between orders at near infrared wavelengths. In addition to observing the same species obtained from the high resolution spectra, we also obtained data on Ca II H, Na I D1, K I, and C2. The resolution was determined from the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of Thorium-Argon (Th-Ar) lines.

The data were reduced in a standard way utilizing the NOAO SUN/IRAF software (Revision 2.10.4). Dark, bias, and flat lamp exposures were taken each night to remove any instrumental effects due to the CCD detector. Comparison spectra were taken periodically throughout the night, typically every two hours. The average bias exposure was subtracted from all raw stellar, comparison (Th-Ar) and flat images. The scattered light was fitted by a low order polynomial, in both the dispersion direction and perpendicular to it for the multi-order observations, and removed. The pixel to pixel sensitivity was removed by dividing the normalized average flat into the stellar spectra. Next, the pixels perpendicular to the dispersion were summed in each order for each stellar and comparison lamp exposure. The extracted spectra were placed on an appropriate wavelength scale with the Th-Ar comparison spectra, and Doppler-corrected. The spectra were coadded and normalized to unity yielding a final spectrum with high signal to noise (based on the root-mean-square deviations in the continuum), typically 100:1.

#### 2.1.2 McDonald Observations with the 6-Foot Camera

The 6-foot camera of the coudé spectrograph on the 2.7 m telescope was used to acquire high-resolution spectra of HD 147009 and 20 Aql. Observations, at R $``$ 200,000, of interstellar Na I D $`\lambda `$$`\lambda `$5896, 5890, K I $`\lambda `$7699, CH+ $`\lambda `$4232, and Ca I $`\lambda `$4226 were obtained in June 1990, Ca II K $`\lambda `$3933 observations were made in June 1991 and CH $`\lambda `$4300 observations were obtained in June 1992. The TI2 CCD with 15 $`\mu `$ pixels was used in all setups. Since no cross disperser was used, single orders of the echelle grating were detected in the vicinity of the line of interest. Appropriate interference filters were placed at the entrance slit to remove light from unwanted orders. Scattered light was found to be negligible since only one order was observed. Comparison spectra from a Th-Ar hollow cathode were taken throughout the night, while biases and flat fields were acquired each night. Dark frames were also obtained as a check on the amount of thermal noise from the cooled CCD. The slit was imaged onto 2.5 pixels for all setups, providing a resolution of 1.6 to 1.8 km s-1. The data were reduced in the standard manner described above. The resulting signal-to-noise ratios ranged from 30 to 200.

#### 2.1.3 CTIO Observations

The stars, HD 147009 and 20 Aql, were observed with the Bench Mounted Echelle on the 1.5 m telescope in July 1991. The setup involved the 590 mm long camera, the Ritchey Chrétien grating from the 4-m telescope as a cross disperser, the TI1 800 $`\times `$ 800 pixel CCD, and a CuSO4 blocking filter. The entrance slit at the end of the 200 $`\mu `$m fiber optic feed was set at 45 $`\mu `$m, illuminating 2.6 pixels as determined by the full width at half maximum of Th-Ar lines. The resulting instrumental resolving power was about 65,000. The setup allowed measurement of lines between 3800 Å and 4400 Å. Bias frames and flat fields were acquired each night. The wavelength scale was determined from spectra of a Th-Ar hollow cathode taken throughout the night. The data were reduced in the standard manner described above. The extracted spectra had signal-to-noise ratios between 40 and 150.

A sample of the rectified ground-based spectra for atoms and molecules toward HD 37903 are shown in Figures 1 $``$ 3 and Figures 4 $``$ 6 exhibit spectra of HD 147009. The equivalent width, $`W_\lambda `$, for a line was determined by a Gaussian fit; single Gaussians were adequate for all except the atomic species Na I and Ca II toward HD 37903. The measured equivalent widths and $`v_{LSR}`$ for the ground-based results toward HD 37903 and HD 147009 are shown in Tables 1 $``$ 3. Where applicable, measurements taken from the literature are also shown. All $`W_\lambda `$’s for a given line agree within measured uncertainties. The differences in $`v_{LSR}`$ are attributed to differences in spectral resolution and to systematic effects involving the wavelength solution. Where no interstellar absorption was detected, a 3-$`\sigma `$ upper limit is given.

Each $`W_\lambda `$ was converted into a column density utilizing curves of growth. The column densities for each species were consistent within the errors from individual measurements. The final column densities reported in Tables 4 and 5 for HD 37903 and HD 147009, respectively, are the weighted average of all detections reported in this work and the literature. For the C2 results reported in Table 3, the most restrictive upper limits for a rotational level were summed to get the total upper limit in column density.

The Doppler parameter (b-value) was set at 1 km s-1 for all lines except those of Ca II and CH+, where a b-value of 2.5 km s-1 was used (e.g., Welty, Morton, & Hobbs 1996). For Na I and K I absorption associated with the molecular material of the PDR, b-values of 2.0 km s-1 toward HD 37903 and 1.5 km s-1 toward HD 147009 were required by the atomic analysis discussed below. These $`b`$-values are similar to other sightlines studied in Orion and the Sco OB2 association based on high resolution surveys of interstellar Na I D1 and K I (Welty, Hobbs, & Kulkarni 1994; Welty & Hobbs 2000). The change in $`b`$-value affected only the column of Na I since the optical depth at line center is larger for Na I than for K I. This resulted in a 20 % decrease in $`N`$(Na I) toward HD 37903 and a 10 % decrease toward HD 147009; no change in $`N`$(K I) occurred with the change in $`b`$-value.

Editor place figures 1-6 here. Editor place tables 1-5 here.

### 2.2 Ultraviolet Data

High-resolution ultraviolet spectra of HD 37903 and HD 200775 were available in the $`IUE`$ NEWSIPS archive. Table 6 lists the short-wavelength spectral images used in our study. The data were extracted with the set of programs in IUERDAF. For features that appeared in two orders, the cleaner looking spectrum was used for further analysis. Once extracted, the spectra were analyzed with the IRAF package in much the same way as described above for the ground-based measurements. Our focus was on absorption from 12CO, 13CO, C I, S I, and Ni II; sample spectra are shown in Figures 7 $``$ 8. Since C I and S I represent minor constituents for their respective elements and have similar ionization potentials, the S I lines provided a check on the C I lines. On the other hand, Ni II is the dominant form of Ni in cloud envelopes; the synthesis of Ni II lines allowed for a comparison of $`b`$-values which could elucidate the relative volumes occupied by dominant versus minor forms of an element.

Editor place table 6 here. Editor place figures 7 - 8 here.

The compilation of $`W_\lambda `$ values appears in Table 7. Joseph et al. (1986) reported results for HD 37903 from the same $`IUE`$ spectra, but with an earlier version of the archiving process. The overall agreement between the two sets of $`W_\lambda `$ is good; the NEWSIPS data used here produce spectra with higher signal to noise, as seen by the smaller uncertainties in $`W_\lambda `$. We performed several checks on $`W_\lambda `$’s measured from NEWSIPS spectra; these are described in the Appendix. For the features considered in our study, we are confident that they have been measured reliably.

Profile synthesis was used to extract $`b`$-values and column densities from the spectra. A chi-squared minimization procedure was adopted for the fits. The syntheses were based on the following set of oscillator stengths: Morton & Noreau (1994) for 12CO and 13CO; Morton (1991) and Zsargó, Federman, & Cardelli (1997) for C I; Federman & Cardelli (1995) for S I; and Morton (1991) and Zsargó & Federman (1998) for Ni II. The resulting column densities appear in Table 8. For the synthesis of the CO bands, the excitation temperature was set at 4 K (Lambert et al. 1994) and the $`b`$-value was found to be somewhat less than 1 km s-1. For the atomic lines, the $`b`$-value was determined by fits to several lines. There was no discernible difference in $`b`$-value between neutral atoms and ions; we found $`b`$ $`=`$ $`2.0\pm 0.5`$ km s-1. Since CO is expected to occupy a more restricted volume than even neutral atoms, a smaller $`b`$-value for this species is appropriate.

Editor place tables 7 - 8 here.

## 3 Analysis and Results

### 3.1 Chemical Modeling

The chemistry of the simple molecular species, CH, C2, and CN, is relatively well understood (van Dishoeck & Black 1986; Federman et al. 1994) and relevant reaction rates are known or have been calculated. The purpose of obtaining data on several species of carbon-bearing molecules is to glean information about the physical conditions where these species reside. In particular, gas density (n), gas temperature (T), and the enhancement of the ultraviolet flux over the average interstellar value given by Draine (1978), Iuv, can be extracted from the measurements.

The analysis is based on steady-state chemical rate equations, which were successful in reproducing data for quiescent diffuse interstellar clouds (e.g., Federman et al. 1994) and the PDR toward HD 200775 (Paper I). In this analysis, the three quantities, n, T, and Iuv are inferred from observed column densities of CH, C2 and CN. However, only upper limits to the column densities are available for the C2 molecule toward HD 37903 and HD 147009 and for CN toward HD 147009, and as a consequence, the physical conditions in the foreground gas are not as well constrained as in other clouds (e.g., Paper I).

The rate equations used here are based on our earlier work. Federman and Huntress (1989) developed the chemistry for C2 in diffuse clouds, while Federman, Danks, and Lambert (1984) and Federman and Lambert (1988) did the same for CN. The incorporation of NH by Federman et al. (1994) into the rate equation for CN was the result of the discovery of NH in cloud envelopes (Meyer & Roth 1991). The respective equations for C2 and CN are:

$$N(\mathrm{C}_2)=\frac{k_1x(\mathrm{C}^+)N(\mathrm{CH})n\alpha }{G(\mathrm{C}_2)+k_2x(\mathrm{O})n+k_3x(\mathrm{N})n}\mathrm{and}$$
(1)
$$N(\mathrm{CN})=\frac{[k_3x(\mathrm{N})N(\mathrm{C}_2)+k_4x(\mathrm{N})N(\mathrm{CH})+k_5x(\mathrm{C}^+)N(\mathrm{NH})\alpha ]n}{G(\mathrm{CN})+k_6x(\mathrm{O})n}.$$
(2)
In these equations, the reaction rate constants are denoted by ki (see Table 9); the abundance of species X relative to the proton abundance and the column density of species X are given by x(X) and N(X), respectively. The total proton density \[n(H) + 2n(H2)\] is given by n; the photodestruction rate of species X is G(X); and $`\alpha `$ accounts for the conversion of C+ into CO (Federman et al. 1994). The rate constants for neutral-neutral reactions include a factor, (T/300)0.5, to account for the velocity term in the rate constant. The attenuation of radiation by dust is included in the photodissociation rate, G(X) =  Go Iuvexp(-$`\tau _{uv}`$), where Go is the rate at the surface of the cloud, and $`\tau _{uv}`$ is the optical depth at 1000 Å. A wavelength of 1000 Å for $`\tau _{uv}`$ was chosen because it is in the middle of the range of wavelengths that leads to photodissociation of C2 and CN (912 Å $``$ $`\lambda `$ $``$ 1200 Å) (Pouilly et al. 1983; Lavendy, Robbe, & Gandara 1987). The observed values of N(CH) and N(C2) were used in determining the predicted values of N(C2) and N(CN). The value of N(NH) was set to 0.041N(CH) since N(NH) scales with N(CH) (Meyer & Roth 1991; Federman et al. 1994).

Editor place table 9 here.

The following considerations apply to the parameters, $`\tau _{uv}`$, $`\alpha `$, and $`x`$(X). From knowledge of the ratio of total to selective extinction, Rv = Av/E(B $``$ V), and the ultraviolet extinction curve (CCM89; Buss et al. 1994), information on $`\tau _{uv}`$ can be derived. For the direction toward HD 37903, $`\tau _{uv}`$ was set at 2$`A_v`$, with an $`R_v`$ somewhat larger than average (Buss et al. 1994). Since the extinction curve for HD 147009 is similar to that seen for $`\rho `$ Oph, $`\tau _{uv}`$ toward $`\rho `$ Oph (Federman et al. 1994) was scaled by $`E`$($`B`$ $``$ $`V`$) to obtain the value for the sight line to HD 147009. For optical depths greater than 2, an additional term of the form, $`\alpha `$ = \[1 + 14($`\tau _{uv}`$ $``$ 2)/5\]-1 (Federman et al. 1994), was added to account for the trends between the predicted and observed $`N`$(C2) and $`\tau _{uv}`$ caused by C+ being converted into CO (Federman & Huntress 1989). Fractional interstellar abundances of 1.4 $`\times `$ 10-4 (Sofia et al. 1997), 7.5 $`\times `$ 10-5 (Meyer, Cardelli, & Sofia 1997), and 3.2 $`\times `$ 10-4 (Meyer, Jura, & Cardelli 1998) for C+, N, and O, respectively, were adopted from measurements with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). These abundances account for modest depletion of the elements onto interstellar grains in cloud envelopes. These values are somewhat different than the fractional abundances quoted in Paper I: while the O and N abundances differ by 10%, the C+ abundance is almost a factor-of-2 less. The lower fractional abundance of carbon requires a higher density for self-consistent chemical results, mainly because C2 is formed through reactions involving C+ and CH.

The column densities derived from the rate equations compare favorably with the observed columns for C2 and CN. The predicted column densities and inferred physical conditions are found in Table 10. The Table also displays predictions for the molecular columns toward HD 200775 based on the atomic abundances adopted here; the greatest effect was on the extracted density. Changing the temperature did not significantly alter the predicted column densities in the chemical analysis above. The temperature used in this analysis was 40 K, the average value obtained from the C I excitation analysis ($`T`$ $``$ 50 K) and the temperature determined from CO fractionation ($`T`$ $``$ 30 K). The average of these two temperatures is reasonable in light of the fact that C I is more extended than CO in the cloud. The value of Iuv/n is the most important parameter in PDRs (HT99); it controls the chemistry and structure. When n was increased in our model, Iuv had to be increased in order to obtain the best match to the observed column densities. The ratio Iuv/n remained unchanged (see eqn. 1 and 2).

Editor place table 10 here.

### 3.2 Atomic Analysis

In this analysis, only the columns of Na I and K I associated with the molecular material (i.e., at the same velocity as the molecules CH, CN, and C2) are used. The atoms Na and K are predominantly singly ionized in interstellar space. Through ionization balance, we can analyze the neutral columns with the equation,

$$N(\mathrm{X})=\frac{N_{tot}(\mathrm{H})A(\mathrm{X})\alpha (\mathrm{X})n_e\alpha _c}{G(\mathrm{X})}.$$
(3)
In this equation, A(X) is the elemental abundance, Ntot(H) is the total proton column density, N(H) + 2N(H2), $`\alpha `$(X) is the radiative recombination rate constant (Péquinot & Aldrovandi 1986), G(X) is the photoionization rate for species X, and ne is the electron density. A(X) includes depletion onto grains at about 25% for alkali elements (Phillips, Pettini & Gondhalekar 1984) and $`\alpha _c`$ incorporates the conversion of C+ into CO in the molecular material (as opposed to $`\alpha `$ in the chemical analysis which is an average for the total amount of neutral material). This conversion is a significant effect only when the fraction of molecular gas is $``$ 50% of the neutral gas. The form of $`\alpha _c`$ is $`\alpha `$$`f`$ \+ (1 $``$ $`f`$), where $`f`$ is the H2 fraction (2$`N`$(H2)/$`N_{tot}`$(H)) and $`\alpha `$ is described in §3.1. Many of the uncertain factors (e.g., ne and depletion) in the above equation can be eliminated by taking the ratio of N(Na I) to N(K I). This ratio can be written as

$$\left[\frac{N(\mathrm{Na}\mathrm{I})}{N(\mathrm{K}\mathrm{I})}\right]=\left[\frac{A(\mathrm{Na})}{A(\mathrm{K})}\right]\left[\frac{\alpha (\mathrm{Na}\mathrm{I})}{\alpha (\mathrm{K}\mathrm{I})}\right]\left[\frac{G(\mathrm{K}\mathrm{I})}{G(\mathrm{Na}\mathrm{I})}\right].$$
(4)
The appropriate value for A(Na)/A(K) is 16 and $`\alpha `$(Na I)/$`\alpha `$(K I) is 1.05. The latter ratio was incorrectly given in Paper I; the change results in a 10% increase in the predicted ratio of Na I and K I columns. The predicted ratio mainly depends on the photoionization rates. The photoionization rates for Na I and K I at the cloud surface were determined from the measured ionization cross sections of Hudson & Carter (1967a) and of Hudson & Carter (1965, 1967b), Marr & Creek (1968) and Sandner et al. (1981), respectively.

To complete the atomic analysis, details about the extinction curve are needed. The main difference for the two sight lines studied here involves the effect of extinction from interstellar grains. The pair method (WBS84) was used to derive the extinction curve for the central star in the nebula vdB 102, HD 147009. Extinction curves for two other stars, HD 37023 and HD 37903, were computed for comparison with extinction curves derived by Fitzpatrick & Massa (1990 - hereafter FM90). Stellar spectra of HD 31726, HD 37023, HD 37903, HD 55857, HD 64802, HD 147009 and $`\zeta `$ Aql were obtained from the $`IUE`$ Archive; the filenames are listed in Table 6. The unreddened standard stars used in FM90 are used in this work, with the exception of $`\zeta `$ Aql (Witt, Bohlin, & Stecher 1981), in order to obtain the most consistent results. The extinction curves for HD 37023 and HD 37903 derived by FM90 are similar to those derived by us, demonstrating that the extinction curve for HD 147009 derived here is reliable.

The extinction curves for HD 37903 and HD 147009 were found to be anomalous when compared to the one representing typical Galactic extinction, that for $`\zeta `$ Per (Savage & Mathis 1979). For this analysis, the extinction curve for $`\zeta `$ Per was scaled to the same reddening parameter of the observed star. Figure 9 displays the resulting extinction curves. Since the photoionization rates were determined for $`\zeta `$ Per (Paper I), the difference between extinction toward the reddened line of sight compared to the average is used to derive an attenuated photoionization rate for the reddened star. Changes in extinction introduce a multiplicative factor to the photoionization rates of the form 10β. For the wavelengths where the curve for $`\zeta `$ Per shows more (less) extinction, the exponent $`\beta `$ is positive (negative). Since the two extinction curves can intersect, for some wavelength intervals the extinction can be enhanced and diminished for others. The total rate is the sum of the rates for each wavelength interval.

Editor place figure 9 here.

### 3.3 Atomic Results

The atomic spectra for Ca II H and K and Na I D exhibit 6 velocity components along the line of sight toward HD 37903 (see Figure 1). There is no molecular absorption seen in 5 of them. The atomic gas not associated with molecular absorption is attributed to Orion’s Cloak. Orion’s Cloak is a rapidly (35 $``$ v $``$ 120 km s-1) expanding shell of gas centered on the Orion OB1 association (Cowie, Songaila & York 1979). While the 5 velocity components toward HD 37903 have lower velocities ($``$ 30 km s-1) than is seen in Orion’s Cloak, this velocity structure is observed toward many other stars in Orion (Cowie et al. 1979; Welty et al. 1994; Welty et al. 1996) showing the high velocity gas of Orion’s Cloak. Our atomic analysis involves only absorption associated with the molecular material in the nebula.

The atomic observations yield information on the photoionization rates present in the gas (see eqn. 4) because eqn. 4 is not dependent on the physical conditions. Toward $`\zeta `$ Per, an observed ratio Na I/K I of 100 $`\pm `$ 6 was obtained. For the predicted ratio a refined analysis was performed. The difference in grain attenuation between 2400 and 2900 Å ($`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`A_\lambda `$ = 0.2) was taken into account. This resulted in a predicted ratio of 67. Toward HD 200775, the observed ratio is 54 $`\pm `$ 9, which is in excellent agreement with the predicted ratio of 54 when the effects of the extinction curve are applied. (Note that the sum of all velocity components of Na I and K I are used for this sight line, see §4.4.)

The observed column densities were (1.1 $`\pm `$ 0.2) $`\times `$ 1013 cm-2 and 1.1 $`\times `$ 1011 cm-2 for Na I and K I toward HD 37903, giving an observed ratio of 100 $`\pm `$ 18. The inferred Na I and K I photoionization rates are 1.2 $`\times `$ 10-11 s-1 and 4.4 $`\times `$ 10-11 s-1, which yield a predicted ratio of 62. For the line of sight to HD 147009, the observed column densities of (1.5 $`\pm `$ 0.3) $`\times `$ 1013 cm-2 and (2.3 $`\pm `$ 0.1) $`\times `$ 1011 cm-2 for Na I and K I, respectively, were determined. These columns produce an observed ratio of 65 $`\pm `$ 13. The Na I and K I photoionization rates for this gas are 2.9 $`\times `$ 10-10 s-1 and 9.7 $`\times `$ 10-10 s-1, respectively. These values lead to a predicted ratio of 56. As expected the correspondence between observed and predicted $`N`$(Na I)/$`N`$(K I) ratios is good.

Editor place table 11 here.

Another useful way to study the observed atomic abundances is to compare, for a specific atom, the column density obtained toward the program stars to the column density obtained toward $`\zeta `$ Per. In this way we check for potential differences in depletion onto grains and ne (see eqn. 3). Curves of growth with b = 1.5 km s-1 for the weak Na I doublet at 3302 Å (Crutcher 1975) as well as the strong D-lines at $`\lambda \lambda `$ 5889, 5895 (Hobbs 1974a, 1974b; Welty et al. 1994; Andersson, private communication) and the weak K I doublet at $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4044, 4047 (Knauth et al. 2000) yielded weighted average column densities for Na I of (7.3 $`\pm `$ 0.3) $`\times `$ 1013 cm-2 and (7.3 $`\pm `$ 0.3) $`\times `$ 1011 cm-2 for K I toward $`\zeta `$ Per. Our precise column density measurements of K I $`\lambda \lambda `$4044, 4047 yield similar results to the column density obtained from the K I $`\lambda `$7699 line. The photoionization rates of Na I and K I toward $`\zeta `$ Per are 4.5 $`\times `$ 10-12 s-1 and 1.8 $`\times `$ 10-11 s-1 (Paper I). For this analysis we require the total proton density toward each star. The proton density is (1.6 $`\pm `$ 0.3) $`\times `$ 1021 cm-2 toward $`\zeta `$ Per (Bohlin, Savage, & Drake 1978) and is (3.6 $`\pm `$ 0.7) $`\times `$ 1021 cm-2 toward HD 37903 (Buss et al. 1994). Toward HD 147009, the total proton column density was determined from several sources. From radio observations of CH, the column density of H2 was found to be 2.5 $`\times `$ 1020 cm-2 (Vallée 1987) using the relationship derived by Federman (1982) and Danks, Federman, & Lambert (1984). A value of N(H I) = 1.1 $`\times `$ 1021 cm-2 was determined from the 21-cm results of Cappa de Nicolau & Pöppel (1986), indicating Ntot(H) = 1.6 $`\times `$ 1021 cm-2. Also from 21-cm observations, de Geus & Burton (1991) derived N(H I) = 1.8 $`\times `$ 1021 cm-2, which yields Ntot(H) = 2.3 $`\times `$ 1021 cm-2. The average proton column density toward HD 147009 is therefore (1.9 $`\pm `$ 0.4) $`\times `$ 1021 cm-2. In our analysis, we adopted a 20 % error in $`N_{tot}`$(H) for all stars except HD 200775 where the observed precision was higher.

Most of the total proton density is assumed to lie in front of HD 147009, since most of $`N`$(H I) resides in one component (Cappa de Nicolau & Pöppel 1986) and the star is at high galactic latitude, $`b^{}`$ = 20.894 (GZL89). The relationship of Bohlin et al. (1978), $`N_{tot}`$(H)/$`E`$($`B`$ $``$ $`V`$) = 5.8 $`\times `$ 1021 atoms cm-2 mag-1, supports this assumption. This relationship yields $`N_{tot}`$(H) = 2.2 $`\times `$ 1021 cm-2, which is similar to the column density determined above. Therefore it is reasonable to assume all of the neutral hydrogen resides in front of the star.

Estimates for gas density, temperature and UV field strength are needed to complete this analysis. The values of n, T, and Iuv toward $`\zeta `$ Per (Federman et al. 1994) were re-derived with the new values for the fractional abundances of C+, N, and O, resulting in 1200 cm-3, 40 K, and 1. For the gas toward HD 37903 and HD 147009, the adopted values of n and T are from the chemical analysis above for Iuv = 1 (see Table 10). Here we set ne = n $`x`$(C+), since the electrons mostly come from ionized carbon. The predicted ratios toward HD 200775 are 0.05 $`\pm `$ 0.01 and 0.06 $`\pm `$ 0.01 for Na I and K I, respectively. The observed ratios are 0.08 $`\pm `$ 0.01 and 0.15 $`\pm `$ 0.02 for Na I and K I, respectively. (These ratios are based on our refined analysis and differ somewhat from the ratios in Paper I.) For the case of HD 37903, the effect of $`\alpha _c`$ needed to be included since the fraction of molecular gas is $``$ 50 %. This resulted in a predicted ratio N(Na I)$`_{HD37903}`$/N(Na I)$`_{\zeta Per}`$ of 0.23 $`\pm `$ 0.06 and 0.21 $`\pm `$ 0.06 for K I. The observed ratios are 0.15 $`\pm `$ 0.03 for Na I and 0.15 $`\pm `$ 0.01 for K I. As for the PDR toward HD 147009, the analysis gives a ratio of 0.01 $`\pm `$ 0.01 for both ratios. The observed column density ratios are 0.21 $`\pm `$ 0.04 for Na I and 0.32 $`\pm `$ 0.02 for K I.

The results of our analysis are summarized in Table 11. It can be seen from the ratios of Na I and especially K I that a modest change in ne and/or depletion onto grains is needed to bring the predictions and observations for the foreground PDR of NGC 7023 into agreement. This change from Paper I is caused by the decrease in $`x`$(C+). Since the observed and predicted results for Na I and K I toward HD 37903 with respect to $`\zeta `$ Per agree within the errors, our estimates for $`n_e`$ and depletion for the foreground material toward HD 37903 are reasonable. The situation is more extreme for the foreground PDR of vdB 102. A factor-of-20 increase in ne is needed to bring the predictions into agreement with the observations. While the flat FUV extinction curve for HD 147009 allows more radiation to permeate the nebula, ne is limited by the elemental abundance of carbon. Because HD 147009 is an A0 V star, enhanced ionization in an H II region is not expected, unless the enhanced ionization arises from the combined effects of other, earlier type, stars in Sco OB2.

### 3.4 UV Results

The $`IUE`$ data on C I and CO provide additional constraints on the physical conditions for the foreground PDR. The relative populations of fine structure levels in the electronic ground state of C I arises from a combination of collisional excitation and de-excitation, radiative decay, and in enhanced radiation fields, UV pumping. Analysis of the observed distribution via statistical equilibrium yields pressure ($`n_{tot}`$ $`T`$) and sometimes $`I_{uv}`$. Here, $`n_{tot}`$ is the density of collision partners, $`n`$(H) + $`n`$(H2). If the kinetic temperature is known from another diagnostic, $`n_{tot}`$ can be obtained and compared with $`n`$ \[$`n`$(H) + 2 $`n`$(H2)\] inferred from the chemistry. The ratio of $`N`$(12CO)/$`N`$(13CO) is affected by chemical fractionation. When the gas is cold ($`T`$ $``$ 40 K) and is permeated by a strong UV radiation field so that the abundance of C+ is high, the ratio of columns is less than the ratio of ambient 12C/13C (about 60) because 13CO has the lower zero-point energy (cf. Watson, Anicich, & Huntress 1976). If the gas in not especially cold, but still affected by UV photons, selective isotopic photodissociation enhances $`N`$(12CO) relative to $`N`$(13CO) (e.g., Bally & Langer 1982; van Dishoeck & Black 1988). The enhancement is the result of 12CO self-shielding itself from photodissociation because its lines are more optically thick.

The analysis of C I excitation described by Lambert et al. (1994) forms the basis of our results. In particular, their collisional rate constants and radiative rates are adopted here. The fractional abundances of collisional partners are based on the observations of Buss et al. (1994) - see Table 12, with the added assumption that 10% of the gas is He. The analysis also assumes that absorption from each fine structure level, J, arises from the same parcel of gas. Figure 10 shows the results of our calculations. Here we plot the density and temperature consistent with the observed column density ratios, $`N`$(J $`=`$ 1)/$`N`$(J $`=`$ 0) $``$ dashed curves $``$ and $`N`$(J $`=`$ 2)/$`N`$(J $`=`$ 0) $``$ dash-dotted curves. The upper and lower bounds are based on $`\pm `$ 1-$`\sigma `$ errors in column density. For HD 37903, results for $`I_{uv}`$ of 3 are indistinguishable from those with $`I_{uv}`$ of 1. The strongest constraint comes from $`N`$(2)/$`N`$(0): $`n_{tot}`$ lies between 300 and 500 cm-3 and $`T`$ about 50 K. Based on the observed columns of H and H2, the inferred value for $`n`$ is 400 to 700 cm-3. As for the foreground PDR toward HD 200775, the lower limits from $`N`$(2)/$`N`$(0) and the upper limits from $`N`$(1)/$`N`$(0) indicate that $`n_{tot}`$ is about 700 cm-3 (or $`n`$ is $``$ 850 cm-3) for $`T`$ between 40 and 60 K. Analysis of C2 excitation from the data in Paper I is consistent with the C I results if $`I_{ir}`$ is 3. For C2, optical pumping to an excited electronic state involves absorption of infrared radiation; hence the use of $`I_{ir}`$. \[Again, the curves for $`I_{uv}`$ of 3 are essentially those for $`I_{uv}`$ of 1, except for the lower range allowed by $`N`$(2)/$`N`$(0).\]

Editor place table 12 here. Editor place figure 10 here.

The inferred values for $`n`$ agree with the chemical results for the two foreground PDRs. The gas containing C I toward HD 37903 appears to have a density most consistent with the chemical results for $`I_{uv}`$ $`=`$ 1. Since C I may occupy a larger volume of material than the molecules C2 and CN, the inferred average density from C I excitation could be smaller by about a factor of 2 compared to the density in CN-rich gas. This seems to be the case for $`\zeta `$ Oph (Lambert et al. 1994). In other words, the chemical results for $`I_{uv}`$ of 1 $``$ 3 are still consistent with the results from C I. The situation is different for the gas toward HD 200775. Here, the C I results are most consistent with the chemical results for $`I_{uv}`$ of 3. Since this comparison also applies to the results for C2 with $`I_{ir}`$ of 3, the strengths of the UV and IR fields seem to scale together for the foreground PDR.

The observations of HD 200775 reveal that $`N`$(12CO)/$`N`$(13CO) is about 20. An enhancement in $`N`$(13CO) arises when the gas is cold, yet contains an appreciable fraction of C+. Lambert et al. (1994) described the amount of fractionation in terms of the quantity $`F_{13}`$, the column density ratio divided by the ambient 12C/13C ratio. When the ratio of columns is smaller than the ambient ratio, $`F_{13}`$ equals exp(-35/T). Since the gas toward HD 200775 has $`F_{13}`$ of $``$ 0.33, the CO observations indicate a temperature of 30 $``$ 35 K. The need for C+ suggests that the UV radiation field is somewhat higher than in a typical diffuse cloud, consistent with the results described above. Since 13CO was not detected toward HD 37903, no meaningful analysis is possible.

## 4 Discussion

### 4.1 Structure of PDRs

Since Iuv/n determines the structure of PDR’s (HT99), we can estimate the fraction of foreground material in the PDR. We use eqn. 7 from Hollenbach & Tielens (1999), which approximately relates the formation rate of H2 to the photodissociation rate, for $`N_{tot}`$(H) $``$ 1021 cm-2. Due to its approximate nature, we assume that the use of this equation for lines of sight with $`N_{tot}`$(H) of a few times 1021 cm-2 to be valid as well. This steady state expression is used to reproduce the column of H2, assuming the observed H2 is completely within the PDR:

$$N(\mathrm{H}_2)=\frac{(N_{tot}(\mathrm{H})A)^4N_o}{N_o^4}=\frac{(nN_{tot}(\mathrm{H})\gamma _{\mathrm{H}_2})^4N_o}{(4I_{diss}(0)N_o)^4}.$$
(5)
In this equation, No is the column density at which self-shielding becomes important (No = 1 $`\times `$ 1014 cm-2), $`\gamma _{H_2}`$ is the formation rate of H2 on grains ($`\gamma _{H_2}`$ = 3 $`\times `$ 10-17 cm3 s-1), and Idiss(0) is the photodissociation rate (4 $`\times `$ 10-11Iuv s-1). Table 12 shows that the predicted values for Iuv are 30 to 60 times greater than the values derived from the chemical analysis. The $`I_{uv}`$ determined from the chemistry must be the same as that determined from the above equation for H2; these results suggest that only a small fraction ($``$ 3%) of the foreground material is actually associated with the PDR in front of the star.

The linear extent of the foreground PDR (Ltr) can be compared to that in the background molecular cloud. We adopted the expression for Ltr of Federman, Glassgold, & Kwan (1979):

$$L_{tr}=\frac{2.93\times 10^{14}n^{2.4}(5.6\times 10^{11}I_{uv})^{1.4}}{(2\gamma _{\mathrm{H}_2})^{1.4}}\mathrm{cm}.$$
(6)
For the foreground PDR of NGC 2023, this equation yields an extent of 0.002 $``$ 0.007 pc for densities of 500 $``$ 1500 cm-3 and respective values for Iuv of 1 $``$ 3. For the background cloud with n of 105 cm-3 and Iuv of 104 (Rouan et al. 1997), the extent is 0.0086 pc. For NGC 7023, the range in extent is 0.008 $``$ 0.03 pc when n of 300 $``$ 900 cm-3 and respective Iuv of 1 $``$ 3 are used for the foreground cloud. Utilizing the density (104 cm-3) and Iuv of 103 from Rogers, Heyer & Dewdney (1995) for the background cloud indicates a length scale of 0.086 pc. The extent of the PDR into the molecular cloud behind the stars is comparable to its extent in the lower density foreground gas. For vdB 102 information is only available for the foreground gas; an extent of 0.004 $``$ 0.01 pc is found from densities and Iuv of 400 $``$ 1200 cm-3 and 1 $``$ 3, respectively.

From the column of neutral hydrogen and the density of the cloud, one can estimate the size of the neutral cloud in front of the star, assuming all the hydrogen is associated with the cloud. Toward HD 37903, a neutral cloud size of 0.8 $``$ 2.3 pc is derived. A cloud size of 0.5 $``$ 1.5 pc toward HD 147009 and toward HD 200775 a cloud size of 0.8 $``$ 2.5 pc are obtained. These simple calculations show that the PDR does indeed reside in a small fraction ($``$ 1 %) of the neutral cloud.

### 4.2 NGC 2023

In order to arrive at a consistent model of PDR’s associated with these reflection nebulae, it is necessary to compare the results obtained here to the physical conditions inferred from diagnostics at other wavelengths of the background molecular cloud. As noted in §1.1, there have been many studies of NGC 2023 whose focus was the molecular cloud behind HD 37903. Here, we highlight those studies that relate to our measurements.

Infrared H2 observations (Martini et al. 1999 and references therein) of this nebula show that there is a neutral shell of molecular material 0.13 $``$ 0.20 pc from the star. However, this neutral shell is not seen in the H I data. The H I emission is observed to be centered on HD 37903 (Lebrón & Rodríguez 1997). Clumps of material have been detected in the nebula on less than parsec size scales (Martini et al. 1999). This implies that there are two components within the nebula. Steiman-Cameron et al. (1997) determined that the densities for the low and high density components are 750 cm-3 and 105 cm-3, respectively, with a temperature range of 250 K $``$ $`T`$ $``$ 750 K and a radiation field of 1.5 $`\times `$ 104 times the average interstellar radiation field. For the gas directly behind HD 37903, Wyrowski et al. (1997) found a density of 3 $`\times `$ 104 cm-3, a radiation field $``$ 500 times the average interstellar radiation field (ISRF) and a temperature of 125 K.

Martini et al. (1999) measured the near-infrared emission from H2 in two regions, 60′′ south and 160′′ north of HD 37903. Their results show that these regions are of relatively high density, n $``$ 105 $``$ 106 cm-3, with a ratio of radiation field to density Iuv/n $``$ 0.1 $``$ 0.01 cm3. These measurements are in agreement with other studies which find high density clumps (105 $``$ 107 cm-3) in a slightly less dense interclump medium ($``$ 104 $``$ 105 cm-3) with a enhancement of the UV radiation field over the average ISRF of 103 $``$ 104 for NGC 2023 (Martini et al. 1999, Takami et al. 2000).

Our chemical analysis reveals that the radiation field is weaker in the foreground material, Iuv $``$ 1 $``$ 3, than the values determined in previous work for the molecular cloud behind the star (Field et al. 1994, 1998; Fuente et al. 1995; Steiman-Cameron et al. 1997; Wyrowski et al. 1997). The density of the foreground gas has a range of a few times 102 to 103 cm-3, a factor of 10 to 1000 less dense than the gas in the molecular cloud behind HD 37903. The temperature of the foreground gas is a factor-of-2 less than the material behind the star. These observations of the foreground material indicating lower densities support the idea that HD 37903 formed near the edge of the molecular cloud and rapidly dispersed the material at the edge of the cloud. NGC 2023 could be a face-on example of star formation by the blister model (Zuckerman 1973; Israel 1978).

Burton et al. (1998) indicate clump densities of $``$ 104 cm-3 and a far ultraviolet radiation field about 103 times the ambient interstellar value at a projected distance of 0.18 pc. Buss et al. (1994) measured a stellar flux at 1050 Å of 1.5 $`\times `$ 10-11 erg cm-2 s-1 Å-1. Using an average interstellar flux of 2.65 $`\times `$ 10-6 ergs cm-2 s-1 Å-1, $`\tau _{uv}`$ = 2.9, and a distance to the star of 470 pc (Perryman et al. 1997), we find a distance to the foreground gas of 2.5 $``$ 4.5 pc for our values of Iuv between 1 and 3. Therefore the radiation field at a distance of 0.1 $``$ 0.2 pc from the star would be 500 $``$ 2000 times the average radiation field, which is consistent with Burton et al.’s (1998) value of Iuv $``$ 1000 (usually denoted by Go) at a distance 0.18 pc from the star.

From maps of CN $`J`$ = 1 $``$ 0 (113.5 GHz) and HCN $`J`$ = 1 $``$ 0 (88.6 GHz) emission, Fuente et al. (1995) detected an enhanced amount of CN in the molecular shell in NGC 2023. The CN/HCN ratio inside the H2 shell was found to be 25 times larger than outside. Outside the shell this ratio is close to the interstellar value for molecular clouds ($``$ 2). HCN photodissociation plays an important role because it produces CN and because the photodissociation rate of HCN is greater than that of CN. While we previously found an enhancement in the abundance of CN toward HD 200775 (Paper I), consistent with radio observations of NGC 7023 (Fuente et al. 1993), our chemical results for the foreground PDR of NGC 2023 show no such enhancement. Most of the CN is in the envelope of the molecular cloud, not in the foreground PDR.

### 4.3 vdB 102

The chemical analysis for HD 147009 matches well with the observed upper limits for C2 and CN, but the physical conditions derived in our chemical analysis could not be constrained well. Unfortunately, little is known about the physical conditions in this nebula. Kutner et al. (1980) mapped CO emission in reflection nebulae and determined that the peak CO emission is offset, about 3.3 arcmin to the north-east, from the star. From radio observations of CH in the cloud, a column density N(CH) = (1.0 $`\pm `$ 0.3) $`\times `$ 1013 cm-2 was obtained (Vallée 1987). This is comparable to the column density obtained from our measurements, N(CH) = (1.5 $`\pm `$ 0.1) $`\times `$ 1013 cm-2. The peak CH emission reported by Vallée is at the same offset as Kutner’s CO observations. Since there is a proportional relationship between N(CH) and N(H2) (Federman 1982; Danks et al. 1984; Mattila 1986), Vallée inferred that N(H2) = 2.5 $`\times `$ 1020 cm-2. Vallée used a length of 0.13 pc to convert column density to space density. This length was determined from the fact that the CH abundance extends over 0.3 magnitudes in blue absorption, $`A_B`$. There could easily be a factor-of-2 error in this estimate. With this length, Vallée obtained n(H2) = 600 cm-3 and then converted n(H2) into a total proton density of n = 1300 cm-3 with the relation n = 2.2 n(H2), assuming 10% of the gas is He. Vallée’s density, which is similar to ours for Iuv = 3, may not represent the molecular cloud behind the star as he reported, since his CH abundance is comparable to ours. The molecular material may in fact reside in front of HD 147009. Moreover, this density is similar to densities found in the diffuse component in the reflection nebulae NGC 2023 (this work) and NGC 7023 (Paper I and this work).

### 4.4 Optical Results for Three Nebulae

The reflection nebulae NGC 2023 and NGC 7023 are relatively bright extended objects, located at the edges of their respective molecular clouds. For these reasons they have been extensively studied at a variety of wavelengths. The two nebulae have been shown to have clumpy, filamentary structure from infrared observations. The central stars, HD 37903 and HD 200775, of these nebulae have similar spectral types, B1.5 V and B3e V, and similar distances of 470 pc and 430 pc (Perryman et al. 1997), respectively. The peak infrared emission is offset from the stars in both nebulae. As for vdB 102, the illuminating source, HD 147009, is of later spectral type (A0 V) and is closer to the Sun at a distance of 160 pc (Perryman et al. 1997). The extent of filamentary structure is unknown.

The physical conditions obtained from optical spectra toward the illuminating stars in the reflection nebulae NGC 2023 and vdB 102 are similar to those obtained from an earlier study of NGC 7023 (Paper I) and updated here. The physical conditions n, $`T`$, and Iuv inferred for NGC 7023 are 300 $``$ 900 cm-3, 40 K, and 1 $``$ 3, respectively, once the effects of a lower $`x`$(C+) are included (Table 10). These physical conditions are similar to those obtained from grain scattering observations of NGC 7023 (Walker et al. 1980; Witt & Cottrell 1980a, 1980b; Witt et al. 1982). The physical conditions found toward NGC 2023 are 500 $``$ 1500 cm-3, 40 K, and 1 $``$ 3 and toward vdB 102 400 $``$ 1200 cm-3, 40 K, and 1 $``$ 3, for $`n`$, $`T`$, and $`I_{uv}`$, respectively. Therefore, the material in front of the stars in the reflection nebulae NGC 2023, vdB 102, and NGC 7023 is relatively diffuse.

In Paper I, an enhancement in the CN abundance over that described in eqn. 2 was (and is still needed) to explain the observed CN abundance in the foreground PDR of NGC 7023. This enhancement of CN in the foreground material of NGC 7023 is the result of a contribution from dark cloud chemistry (Paper I) $``$ HCN $``$ CN through photodissociation. If we really are seeing an effect of dark cloud chemistry from the molecular cloud behind the star, the foreground PDR may be closer to the star than our estimates suggest, even for an enhancement by a factor-of-3 in the radiation field. This enhancement is not detected toward either HD 37903 or HD 147009, unless the amount of C2 in the gas is much less than our current upper limit. This could be a consequence of the different distances between each star and its foreground gas.

In the case of NGC 7023, an hourglass shaped cavity has been detected (Lemaire et al. 1996; Fuente et al. 1998) around the star. CO radio maps reveal (Gerin et al. 1998) that the 13CO emission profiles are relatively smooth and centered at 2.5 km s-1, while the 12CO profiles indicate more complicated structure. This structure shows a gradual shift in the velocity of the gas from 2.5 km s-1 to 1.5 km s-1, which is the velocity of the foreground molecular material reported in Paper I. This suggests that there should be a diffuse 12CO component in the cavity or the foreground material. We associate this diffuse component with the CO seen in UV absorption. Lemaire et al. (1999) report redshifted H I with respect to H2 in the molecular cloud behind the star. This trend is also detected in atomic absorption (Paper I) which is blueshifted compared to the foreground molecular material. This is consistent with an expanding PDR around the star (Gerin et al. 1998; Fuente et al. 1998).

The analysis of atomic data provides insight into the processes taking place in the foreground gas. Using the extinction curve for the line of sight in our model, the observed ratio of Na I to K I toward NGC 7023 and vdB 102 matched the predicted ratio. In the cases for $`\zeta `$ Per and NGC 2023, the observed ratio was about twice the predicted value. Adjustments to the photoionization rates would bring the predicted ratios into better agreement with observations. In particular, a finer grid for computing the differences in extinction relative to the extinction for $`\zeta `$ Per may be more appropriate; we only considered average differences over wavelength regions where the curves intersected. In the comparison of the column density of each species toward the reflection nebulae and $`\zeta `$ Per, a small change in $`n_e`$ or an extra source of depletion is needed toward NGC 7023 to match the observed and predicted results. Toward HD 147009, a fairly substantial modification is required. A significant increase in ne, possibly provided by protons in diffuse ionized gas created by earlier type stars in Sco OB2, is needed to account for the differences found between the nebula vdB 102 and gas toward $`\zeta `$ Per.

The analysis of ultraviolet data provides additional pieces to the picture for the gas associated with NGC 2023 and NGC 7023. It appears that the foreground PDR in NGC 7023 is more homogeneous (because C I excitation, C2 excitation, CO fractionation, and chemical analysis yield very similar physical conditions) and is permeated by a slightly stronger radiation field compared to that for NGC 2023.

## 5 Conclusions

We presented the first chemical results for foreground material associated with the PDRs of NGC 2023 and vdB 102. The foreground material in NGC 2023 is more diffuse than the molecular cloud behind HD 37903 and is subjected to a less intense radiation field. The results are similar to what we found for NGC 7023 (Paper I). As for vdB 102, our analyses are the most comprehensive to date and will be the basis for other studies of nebulae illuminated by A-type stars.

Future studies should incorporate details that extend the treatment presented here. The effects of a clumpy distribution of material and a more extensive set of chemical reactions in the framework of a time-dependent model need to be considered. These models have to include the “anomalous” extinction law found for both stars in this work (see also FM90; WBS84). The consequences of NGC 2023 and vdB 102 being located in active star-forming regions is another area for future analysis. Other absorption measurements of species detected at ultraviolet wavelengths, such as H2, are needed to place more stringent constraints on physical conditions. Observations with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer will soon be obtained. This combination of visible and UV data, on the one hand, and more sophisticated modeling efforts, on the other, will provide a clearer description of the interaction between a star’s radiation field and the surrounding molecular cloud.

We thank David Doss for assistance with the instrumental setups at McDonald Observatory and Tom Ingerson for help with the setup at CTIO. The McDonald Observatory 2dcoudé data presented here formed the basis for David Knauth’s Master’s Thesis. Tony Imperial and Marissa Lingen helped in reducing CTIO data, and Kyle Westfall reduced the NEWSIPS data for X Per. Marissa and Kyle participated in the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program at the University of Toledo, which was funded by NSF. We also thank Yaron Sheffer for the use of his code. This research made use of the Simbad database, operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France. This research was supported in part by NASA LTSA grant NAG5-4957.  A. Reliability of NEWSIPS Data  The $`IUE`$ archive is now comprised of NEWSIPS data, which yields spectra with superior signal to noise. Techniques were introduced to perform geometric and photometric corrections, to improve the ripple correction, and to determine the image background (e.g., Nichols 1998). We examined the reliability of our data in two ways. First, we compared our results for another star, 20 Aql, with those of Hanson, Snow, & Black (1992) based on an earlier form of the archive. Then we compared $`W_\lambda `$’s of C I lines seen in the $`IUE`$ spectra of X Per with measurements from high-resolution spectra acquired with ECH-A of the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope. Our comparisons show that NEWSIPS data provide a consistent, reliable set of $`W_\lambda `$’s with improved signal to noise for interstellar studies, thereby confirming the analyses performed by González-Riestra et al. (2000). Tables 13 to 15 provide the basis for comparison. Table 13 shows our results for interstellar gas toward 20 Aql based on NEWSIPS data and the results of Hanson et al. (1992). The agreement in $`W_\lambda `$ for values from less than 10 to 150 mÅ is excellent, without any discrepancies beyond the mutual uncertainties. The uncertainties associated with the NEWSIPS spectra also tend to be smaller. Sample spectra appear in Figure 11, and Table 14 displays the column densities derived from the fits. In Table 15, NEWSIPS results for C I toward X Per are compared with measurements from ECH-A spectra. Again, the correspondence is excellent. Syntheses of the ECH-A data give a measure of the precision in column density attainable from NEWSIPS data. Since $`b`$-values can be determined from NEWSIPS data to about 0.5 km s-1 and 0.1 km s-1 from ECH-A data, column densities from relatively strong lines in NEWSIPS data are accurate to about 50%. This confirms the measure of uncertainty given to atomic column densities in Table 8. For completeness, Tables 16 to 18 indicate a synthesis of results from ground-based observations of 20 Aql, incorporating data acquired during observing runs described here. This compilation includes the highest-resolution spectra taken of 20 Aql. Our spectra are displayed in Figures 12-14. Analyses, similar to those for NGC 2023 and vdB 102, were applied to the data. The density, temperature and radiation field are 1400 cm-3, 50 K and 1; the factor-of-2 increase from Federman, Strom, & Good (1991) in the derived density is due to the lower fractional abundance of carbon. With the exception of the density, the results, derived from the chemical analysis, are much like the results of Federman et al. (1991) and Hanson et al. (1992). The atomic analysis performed above is repeated for data toward 20 Aquilae. The inferred Na I and K I photoionization rates are 3.4 $`\times `$ 10-13 s-1 and 1.1 $`\times `$ 10-12 s-1, which yield a predicted ratio of 54. The observed column densities of (1.3 $`\pm `$ 0.1) $`\times `$ 1015 cm-2 and (1.4 $`\pm `$ 0.1) $`\times `$ 1013 cm-2 for Na I and K I, respectively, produce an observed ratio of 93 $`\pm `$ 10. The correspondence between observed and predicted $`N`$(Na I)/$`N`$(K I) ratio is about two to one, similar to that found for gas toward $`\zeta `$ Per and HD 37903. For the comparison of the columns Na I and K I of 20 Aquilae to those of $`\zeta `$ Per, the total proton density toward 20 Aquilae is needed. The proton density is (3.0 $`\pm `$ 0.6) $`\times `$ 1021 cm-2 (Hanson et al. 1992) with an assumed 20 % error (see text above). This results in a predicted ratio N(Na I)$`_{20Aquilae}`$/N(Na I)$`_{\zeta Per}`$ of 29 $`\pm `$ 8 and 36 $`\pm `$ 10 for K I. The observed ratios are 18 $`\pm `$ 2 for Na I and 19 $`\pm `$ 2 for K I. The effect of $`\alpha _c`$ was not needed in this analysis (see text above). Formally, the predicted and observed ratios are consistent with (at most) a modest change in ne and/or depletion to bring the predictions into better agreement with the observations, much like the results for the PDR toward HD 200775. Editor place figures 11 - 14 here. Editor place tables 13 - 18 here.