2025ApJ...993..232S

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 >0.95 M_⊙, while the J, D, and F class novae have <0.95 M_⊙. The speed class of the light curves is t₃ = $1{0}^{(-1.73{M}_{{\rm{WD}}})}$ × 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 $1{0}^{({M}_{{\rm{WD}}}/2)}$ × 500 km s^–1 for <1.3 M_⊙. And all the known Galactic recurrent novae are >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 <0.33 day, and that the visibility of γ-rays from the shells is strongly biased toward novae with fast declines, with t₃ as a proxy for the γ-ray luminosity.