The properties of uniformly rotating white dwarfs ( RWDs ) are analyzed within the framework of Newton ’ s gravity and general relativity .
In both cases Hartle ’ s formalism is applied to construct the internal and external solutions to the field equations .
The white dwarf ( WD ) matter is described by the Chandrasekhar equation of state .
The region of stability of RWDs is constructed taking into account the mass-shedding limit , inverse \beta -decay instability , and the boundary established by the turning points of constant angular momentum J sequences which separates stable from secularly unstable configurations .
We found the minimum rotation period \sim 0.28 s in both cases and maximum rotating masses \sim 1.534 M _ { \odot } and \sim 1.516 M _ { \odot } for the Newtonian and general relativistic WDs , respectively .
By using the turning point method we show that general relativistic WDs can indeed be axisymmetrically unstable whereas the Newtonian WDs are stable .