Comprehensive Listing of 208 Nova White Dwarf Masses as the Primary Determinant of Spectral Class and Light-curve Class

Abstract For Galactic novae, I calculate and collect a comprehensive catalog of 208 measures of white dwarf (WD) masses ( M WD ) and 232 measures of average V magnitudes in quiescence ( V q ). These are collected into a comprehensive catalog of most fundamental properties of all 402 known Galactic novae. The nova light curve and spectral classes are determined primarily by M WD . With an apparently clean cutoff, novae with light-curve shapes in the S, P, O, and C classes have &gt;0.95 M ⊙ , while the J, D, and F class novae have &lt;0.95 M ⊙ . The speed class of the light curves is t 3 = <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>0</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1.73</mml:mn> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">WD</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:math> × 1900 days. The spectral class of novae is Fe ii below 1.15 M ⊙ , is He/N above 1.15 M ⊙ , and the hybrid novae are spread around this division. Neon novae have WD masses ranging from 0.53 to 1.37 M ⊙ , with 76% being measured to be below their minimum formation mass of 1.2 M ⊙ , demonstrating that most are losing mass over each eruption cycle. The FWHM velocity of the Balmer line profiles is close to 0.23 times the WD escape velocity, or roughly <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>0</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">WD</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>/</mml:mo> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:math> × 500 km s −1 for &lt;1.3 M ⊙ . And all the known Galactic recurrent novae are &gt;1.2 M ⊙ . For issues involving the late expansion of the ejecta, I find that the visibility of shells is strongly biased toward novae with orbital periods &lt;0.33 day, and that the visibility of γ -rays from the shells is strongly biased toward novae with fast declines, with t 3 as a proxy for the γ -ray luminosity.