Expanding shells of shocked neutral hydrogen around compact HII regions

Abstract

By comparing radial velocities of radio bright compact HII regions with their HI absorption profiles, we discovered expanding shells of neutral hydrogen around them. These shells are revealed by absorption of the radio continuum emission from the HII regions at velocities indicating greater distances than the observed radial velocity. We believe that these shells are shock zones at the outer edge of the expanding ionized region. Additionally we found evidence for a velocity inversion inside the Perseus arm caused by a spiral shock, which results in a deep absorption line in the spectra of compact HII regions behind it.