Some sufficient conditions for the existence of kernels in infinite digraphs

A kernel N of a digraph D is an independent set of vertices of D such that for every w ∈ V (D)− N there exists an arc from w to N . If every induced subdigraph of D has a kernel, D is said to be a kernel perfect digraph. D is called a critical kernel imperfect digraph when D has no kernel but every proper induced subdigraph of D has a kernel. If F is a set of arcs of D, a semikernel modulo F of D is an independent set of vertices S of D such that for every z ∈ V (D) − S for which there exists an (S, z)-arc of D − F , there also exists an (z, S)-arc in D. In this work we show sufficient conditions for an infinite digraph to be a kernel perfect digraph, in terms of semikernel modulo F . As a consequence it is proved that symmetric infinite digraphs and bipartite infinite digraphs are kernel perfect digraphs. Also we give sufficient conditions for the following classes of infinite digraphs to be kernel perfect digraphs: transitive digraphs, quasi-transitive digraphs, right (or left)-pretransitive digraphs, the union of two right (or left)-pretransitive digraphs, the union of a right-pretransitive digraph with a left-pretransitive digraph, the union of two transitive digraphs, locally semicomplete digraphs and outward locally finite digraphs. c © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.