  This paper examines thermodynamic stability of chiral domain walls and
vortices - topological defects which can exist in chiral superconductors. Using
London theory it is demonstrated that at sufficiently small applied and chiral
fields the existence of domain walls and vortices in the sample is not favored
and the sample's configuration is a single domain. The particular chirality of
the single-domain configuration is neither favored nor disfavored by the
applied field. Increasing the field leads to an entry of a domain wall loop or
a vortex into the sample. Formation of a straight domain wall is never
preferred in equilibrium. Values of the entry (critical) fields for both types
of defects, as well as the equilibrium size of the domain wall loop, are
calculated. We also consider a mesoscopic chiral sample and calculate its
zero-field magnetization, susceptibility and a change in the magnetic moment
due to a vortex or a domain wall entry. We show that in a case of a soft domain
wall whose energetics is dominated by the chiral current (and not by the
surface tension) its behavior in mesoscopic samples is substantially different
from that in the bulk case and can be used for a controllable transfer of edge
excitations. The applicability of these results to Sr2RuO4 - a tentative chiral
superconductor - is discussed.
