Fine and hyperfine excitation of nitric oxide by collision with para-H2

Abstract: Nitric oxide is an open-shell molecule abundantly detected in the interstellar medium. A precise modeling of its radiative and collisional processes opens the path to a precise estimate of its abundance. We present here the first rate coefficients for fine and hyperfine (de-)excitation of NO by collisions with the most ubiquitous collision partner in the interstellar medium, $para$-H$_2$ hydrogen molecules, using a recently developed accurate interaction potential. We report quantum scattering calculations for transitions involving the first 74 fine levels and the corresponding 442 hyperfine levels belonging to both $F_1$ and $F_2$ spin-orbit manifolds. To do so, we have calculated cross sections by means of the quantum mechanical close-coupling approach up to 1000 cm$^{-1}$ of total energy and rate coefficients from 5 to 100 K. Propensity rules are discussed and the new NO-H$_2$ rates are compared to those available in the literature, based on scaled NO-He rates. Large differences are observed between the two sets of rate coefficients, and this comparison shows that the new collision rates must be used in interpreting NO emission lines. We also examined the effect of these new rates on the NO excitation in cold clouds by performing radiative transfer calculations of the excitation and brightness temperatures for the two NO lines at 150.176 and 250.4368 GHz. This shows that the local thermodynamic equilibrium is not fulfilled for this species for typical conditions. We expect the use of the rates presented in this study to improve the constraints on the abundance of NO.