Abstract
In this paper, we shall prove several results concerning Ricci curvature of a Riemannian manifold (M, g) := (SU(2), g) with an arbitrary given left invariant metric g. First of all, we obtain the maximum (resp. minimum) of {r(X) := Ric(X,X) | ${||X||}_g$ = 1,X ${\in}$ X(M)}, where Ric is the Ricci tensor field on (M, g), and then get a necessary and sufficient condition for the Levi-Civita connection ${\nabla}$ on the manifold (M, g) to be projectively flat. Furthermore, we obtain a necessary and sufficient condition for the Ricci curvature r(X) to be always positive (resp. negative), independently of the choice of unit vector field X.