Hedgehog–antihedgehog pair annihilation to a static soliton

We experimentally demonstrate that, for sufficiently small perturbations, a hedgehog (H) and antihedgehog point defect in nematic liquid crystals can be asymptotically free. For larger external perturbations, we find that the annihilation dynamics of an pair to a static soliton is asymmetric and shows two time regimes. A model for the experimental observations in the absence of smectic A fluctuations is proposed.