VLBI observations of SN 2008iz: I. Expansion velocity and limits on
  anisotropic expansion
  We present observations of the recently discovered supernova 2008iz in M82
with the VLBI High Sensitivity Array at 22 GHz, the Very Large Array at
frequencies of 1.4, 4.8, 8.4, 22 and 43 GHz, and the Chandra X-ray observatory.
The supernova was clearly detected on two VLBI images, separated by 11 months.
The source shows a ring-like morphology and expands with a velocity of ~23000
km/s. The most likely explosion date is in mid February 2008. The measured
expansion speed is a factor of ~2 higher than expected under the assumption
that synchrotron self-absorption dominates the light curve at the peak,
indicating that this absorption mechanism may not be important for the radio
emission. We find no evidence for an asymmetric explosion. The VLA spectrum
shows a broken power law, indicating that the source was still optically thick
at 1.4 GHz in April 2009. Finally, we report upper limits on the X-ray emission
from SN 2008iz and a second radio transient recently discovered by MERLIN
observations.
