Diameter of the Berger sphere (Q1668083)

Let \(d(M)\) be the diameter of a Riemannian manifold \(\mathcal{M}=(M,g)\). Consider the special example in which \(M=\operatorname{SU}(2)=S^3\) is the sphere equipped with a left invariant metric with eigenvalues \((I_1,I_2,I_3)\). Assume \(I_1=I_2\). The author shows Theorem. 1. \(d(I_1,I_2,I_3)=2\pi\sqrt{I_1}\) if \(I_1\leq I_3\). 2. \(2\pi\sqrt{I_3}\) if \(I_1\in (I_3,2I_3]\). 3. \(\frac{\pi I_1}{\sqrt{I_1-I_3}}\) if \(I_1>2I_3\). Section 2 deals with the cut locus and the cut time and Section 3 gives the proof of the main theorem.