  The phenomenon of slow switching in populations of globally coupled
oscillators is discussed. This characteristic collective dynamics, which was
first discovered in a particular class of the phase oscillator model, is a
result of the formation of a heteroclinic loop connecting a pair of clustered
states of the population. We argue that the same behavior can arise in a wider
class of oscillator models with the amplitude degree of freedom. We also argue
how such heteroclinic loops arise inevitably and persist robustly in a
homogeneous population of globally coupled oscillators. Although the
heteroclinic loop might seem to arise only exceptionally, we find that it
appears rather easily by introducing the time-delay in the population which
would otherwise exhibit perfect phase synchrony. We argue that the appearance
of the heteroclinic loop induced by the delayed coupling is then characterized
by transcritical and saddle-node bifurcations. Slow switching arises when the
system with a heteroclinic loop is weakly perturbed. This will be demonstrated
with a vector model by applying weak noises. Other types of weak
symmetry-breaking perturbations can also cause slow switching.
