Stability of higher-dimensional Einstein-Yang-Mills theories on symmetric spaces

We study (4 + d)-dimensional Einstein-Yang-Mills theories with arbitrary gauge groups, G_YM. The theory is compactified on a d-dimensional symmetric coset space $\text{G}\text{H}$ with a symmetric, topologically non-trivial classical gauge field, embedded in an H-subgroup of the Yang-Mills group. These theories are known to be classically stabilized by gravity if G_YM = H, $\text{G}\text{H}$ is a sphere and d ≠ 3. We study classical instabilities caused by embedding H in a larger gauge group. The small fluctuation spectrum is completely calculable, and leads to a stability condition. For two-dimensional spheres this condition is precisely the Brandt-Neri stability condition for non-abelian monopole fields. For four-spheres we find stability for SU(2) instantons embedded in arbitrary gauge groups and we reproduce the fluctuation spectrum around instantons. For higher-dimensional spheres the stable solutions of this type are completely classified, and occur only for d = 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12 and 16. The results show a remarkable agreement with expected topological stability. We also give a few examples with other symmetric spaces, such as CP_n, where the stability criterion appears less restrictive.