Another open question is the characterization of the optical properties of disordered colloidal materials using large-scale simulations that go beyond the quasistatic limit, which is particularly relevant for analyzing systems with larger nanoparticles or under higherfrequency incident fields. Extensions to MPM to address such systems would need to account for the spatial variation of the incident field (e.g., in eqs ( ) and ( )), frequency-dependent terms in particles' scattered fields (see the M ij blocks of eqs ( ), (10), and ( )), and frequency dependence in particle polarizabilities (α and β in eqs (11) and ( )). T-matrix based simulation methods may also provide complementary analysis capabilities for understanding and accounting for dynamic corrections to the quasistatic limit for disordered materials. The possibility of light-induced anisotropy of material properties (e.g., electronic and ionic conductivity) invites further studies of charge and heat transport within these plasmonic colloidal materials. We imagine a simulation study where nanoparticles are first assembled using molecular or Brownian dynamics. Light-matter interactions would then be computed using electromagnetic simulations to quantify the spatial distribution of light absorption and electric field intensity, and then transport of heat or charge would be modeled within the assembled geometry and known electric and absorption fields. More challenging, but interesting, physics could be modeled when these phenomena are dynamically coupled, e.g., if the movement of heat and charge substantially affects the interactions among colloids, directing their dynamic reconfiguration in response.