Recurrent novae (RNe) are cataclysmic variables with two or more novaeruptions within a century. Classical novae (CNe) are similar systems with onlyone such eruption. Many of the so-called 'CNe' are actually RNe for which onlyone eruption has been discovered. Since RNe are candidate Type Ia supernovaprogenitors, it is important to know whether there are enough in our galaxy toprovide the supernova rate, and therefore to know how many RNe are masqueradingas CNe. To quantify this, we collected all available information on the lightcurves and spectra of a Galactic, time-limited sample of 237 CNe and the 10known RNe, as well as exhaustive discovery efficiency records. We recognize RNeas having (a) outburst amplitude smaller than 14.5 - 4.5 * log(t_3), (b)orbital period >0.6 days, (c) infrared colors of J-H > 0.7 mag and H-K > 0.1mag, (d) FWHM of H-alpha > 2000 km/s, (e) high excitation lines, such as Fe Xor He II near peak, (f) eruption light curves with a plateau, and (g) whitedwarf mass greater than 1.2 M_solar. Using these criteria, we identify V1721Aql, DE Cir, CP Cru, KT Eri, V838 Her, V2672 Oph, V4160 Sgr, V4643 Sgr, V4739Sgr, and V477 Sct as strong RN candidates. We evaluate the RN fraction amongstthe known CNe using three methods to get 24% +/- 4%, 12% +/- 3%, and 35% +/-3%. With roughly a quarter of the 394 known Galactic novae actually being RNe,there should be approximately a hundred such systems masquerading as CNe.
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