New gravitational instantons and universal spin structures

An infinite class of new gravitational instantons for the axial anomaly is found. It consists entirely of algebraic spin- manifolds. In theories that allow manifolds without ordinary spin structure we find the presence of spinorial matter fields to require the existence of a “universal” gauged SU(2) or higher internal symmetry (e.g., SU(2) × SU(2) × G) and of an “internal-spin” -statistics connection. The possible relation of this to the gauge theory of weak and electromagnetic interactions is explored.