Structure and dynamics of model colloidal clusters with short-range attractions

We examine the structure and dynamics of small isolated $N$-particle clusters interacting via short-ranged Morse potentials. ''Ideally prepared ensembles'' obtained via exact enumeration studies of sticky hard sphere packings serve as reference states allowing us to identify key statistical-geometrical properties as well as to quantitatively characterize how nonequilibrium ensembles prepared by thermal quenches at different rates $\dot{T}$ differ from their equilibrium counterparts. Our results provide a theoretical framework for extending recent experimental studies of small colloidal clusters to examine nonequilibrium phenomena.