Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
Let $C$ and
$D$ be digraphs. A mapping
$f:V\left( D \right)\to V\left( C \right)$ is a
$C$-colouring if for every arc
$uv$ of
$D$, either
$f\left( u \right)f\left( v \right)$ is an arc of
$C$ or
$f\left( u \right)=f\left( v \right)$, and the preimage of every vertex of
$C$ induces an acyclic subdigraph in
$D$. We say that
$D$ is
$C$-colourable if it admits a
$C$-colouring and that
$D$ is uniquely
$C$-colourable if it is surjectively
$C$-colourable and any two
$C$-colourings of
$D$ differ by an automorphism of
$C$. We prove that if a digraph
$D$ is not
$C$-colourable, then there exist digraphs of arbitrarily large girth that are
$D$-colourable but not
$C$-colourable. Moreover, for every digraph
$D$ that is uniquely
$D$-colourable, there exists a uniquely
$D$-colourable digraph of arbitrarily large girth. In particular, this implies that for every rational number
$r\ge 1$, there are uniquely circularly
$r$-colourable digraphs with arbitrarily large girth.