Cores and Compactness of Infinite Directed Graphs

In this paper we define the property of homomorphic compactness for digraphs. We prove that if a digraphHis homomorphically compact thenHhas a core, although the converse does not hold. We also examine a weakened compactness condition and show that when this condition is assumed, compactness is equivalent to containing a core. We use this result to prove that if a digraphHof sizeκis not compact, then there is a digraphGof size at mostκ+such thatHis not compact with respect toG. We then give examples of some sufficient conditions for compactness.