  The understanding of the ro-vibrational dynamics in molecular
(near)-atmospheric pressure plasmas is essential to investigate the influence
of vibrational excited molecules on the discharge properties. In a companion
paper, results of ro-vibrational coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS)
measurements for a nanosecond pulsed plasma jet consisting of two conducting
molybdenum electrodes with a gap of 1 mm in nitrogen at 200 mbar are presented.
Here, those results are discussed and compared to theoretical predictions based
on rate coefficients for the relevant processes found in the literature. It is
found, that during the discharge the measured vibrational excitation agrees
well with predictions obtained from the rates for resonant electron collisions
calculated by Laporta et al [PlasmaSources Science and Technology 23 065002
(2014)]. The predictions are based on the electric field during the discharge,
measured by EFISH and the electron density which is deduced from the field and
mobility data calculated with Bolsig+. In the afterglow a simple kinetic
simulation for the vibrational subsystem of nitrogen is performed and it is
found, that the populations of vibrational excited states develop according to
vibrational-vibrational transfer on timescales of a few $\mu$s, while the
development on timescales of some hundred $\mu$s is determined by the losses at
the walls. No significant influence of electronically excited states on the
populations of the vibrational states visible in the CARS measurements ($v
\lesssim 7$) was observed.
