Discovery of a new photometric sub-class of faint and fast classical
  novae
  We present photometric and spectroscopic follow-up of a sample of
extragalactic novae discovered by the Palomar 60-inch telescope during a search
for "Fast Transients In Nearest Galaxies" (P60-FasTING). Designed as a fast
cadence (1-day) and deep (g < 21 mag) survey, P60-FasTING was particularly
sensitive to short-lived and faint optical transients. The P60-FasTING nova
sample includes 10 novae in M31, 6 in M81, 3 in M82, 1 in NGC2403 and 1 in
NGC891. This significantly expands the known sample of extragalactic novae
beyond the Local Group, including the first discoveries in a starburst
environment. Surprisingly, our photometry shows that this sample is quite
inconsistent with the canonical Maximum Magnitude Rate of Decline (MMRD)
relation for classical novae. Furthermore, the spectra of the P60-FasTING
sample are indistinguishable from classical novae. We suggest that we have
uncovered a sub-class of faint and fast classical novae in a new phase space in
luminosity-timescale of optical transients. Thus, novae span two orders of
magnitude in both luminosity and time. Perhaps, the MMRD, which is
characterized only by the white dwarf mass, was an over-simplification. Nova
physics appears to be characterized by quite a rich four-dimensional parameter
space in white dwarf mass, temperature, composition and accretion rate.
