Interesting. During my time in solid state physics and later quantum information, we just used "(topological) defects", not "topological solitons", though of co

Interesting. During my time in solid state physics and later quantum information, we just used "(topological) defects", not "topological solitons", though of course papers trying to sound cool could use that term. It takes about 2 uses to not conflate "defect" with anything deleterious, just the breaking of an otherwise functional symmetry.