A topological defect is a localized obstruction to extending an ordered field smoothly and nonvanishingly through space. Its charge is determined by the homotopy class of the order parameter around the defect.
Topological defects are irregularities or disruptions that occur in a medium where the spatial arrangement of the constituents is defined by a specific order parameter. These defects arise in various fields of physics, particularly in the study of condensed matter systems, cosmology, and field theory. They reflect a mismatch between the local symmetry of the system and the global properties of the medium.
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