A note on coloring digraphs of large girth (Q2004076)

Let \(D\) be a digraph. Vertices \(v_1,\dots,v_k\) induce a directed cycle if \((v_i,v_{i+1})\) and \((v_k,v_1)\) are arcs of \(D\) for every \(i\in\{1,\dots,k-1\}\). The digirth \(\vec{g}(D)\) of \(D\) is the length of a shortest directed cycle and if there is no directed cycle in \(D\) we set digirth to be infinite. A partition \(\{S_1,\dots,S_\ell\}\) of \(V(D)\) is called dichromatic partition if every digraph induced by \(S_i\), \(i\in\{1,\dots,\ell\}\) has an infinite digirth. The dichromatic number \(\vec{\chi}(D)\) is the minimum \(\ell\) for which there exists a dichromatic partition of \(V(D)\) to \(\ell\) sets. The author shows in this short note that \(\vec{\chi}(D)\leq (\frac{1}{3}+\frac{1}{3g})\Delta+(g+1)\), where \(g\geq 2\) is a natural number and \(D\) is a digraph with \(\vec{g}(D)\geq 2g-1\) and maximum degree \(\Delta\). This improves the bound of \textit{N. Golowich} [Discrete Math. 339, No. 6, 1734--1743 (2016; Zbl 1333.05110)] for digraphs with \(\vec{g}(D)>10\).