  In the context of D-dimensional Euclidean gravity, we define the natural
generalisation to D-dimensions of the self-dual Yang-Mills equations, as
duality conditions on the curvature 2-form of a Riemannian manifold. Solutions
to these self-duality equations are provided by manifolds of SU(2), SU(3), G_2
and Spin(7) holonomy. The equations in eight dimensions are a master set for
those in lower dimensions. By considering gauge fields propagating on these
self-dual manifolds and embedding the spin connection in the gauge connection,
solutions to the D-dimensional equations for self-dual Yang-Mills fields are
found. We show that the Yang-Mills action on such manifolds is topologically
bounded from below, with the bound saturated precisely when the Yang-Mills
field is self-dual. These results have a natural interpretation in
supersymmetric string theory.
