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Description
We present new photometric observations of supernova (SN) 2003ie starting one month before discovery, obtained serendipitously while observing its host galaxy. With only a weak upper limit derived on the mass of its progenitor (<25M_{sun}_) from previous pre-explosion studies, this event could be a potential exception to the "red supergiant (RSG) problem" (the lack of high-mass RSGs exploding as Type IIP SNe). However, this is true only if SN2003ie was a Type IIP event, something which has never been determined. Using recently derived core-collapse SN light-curve templates, as well as by comparison to other known SNe, we find that SN2003ie was indeed a likely Type IIP event. However, with a plateau magnitude of ~-15.5mag, it is found to be a member of the faint Type IIP class. Previous members of this class have been shown to arise from relatively low-mass progenitors (<12M_{sun}_). It therefore seems unlikely that this SN had a massive RSG progenitor. The use of core-collapse SN light-curve templates is shown to be helpful in classifying SNe with sparse coverage. These templates are likely to become more robust as large homogeneous samples of core-collapse events are collected.
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