Periodic Coronal Rain Driven by Self-consistent Heating Process in a Radiative Magnetohydrodynamic Simulation

TL;DR

This study uses advanced 3D radiative magnetohydrodynamic simulations to model and analyze periodic coronal rain, revealing detailed structures, multiple periodicities, and complex heating dynamics that align with observations.

Contribution

First to simulate periodic coronal rain in an active region with self-consistent heating, providing detailed 3D insights into rain structures and energy evolution.

Findings

Simulation reproduces observed coronal rain features across wavelengths.

Identifies two main periodicities of 3.0 h and 3.7 h in coronal loops.

Reveals complex, time-varying heating rates with minute bursts and asymmetries.

Abstract

The periodic coronal rain and in-phase radiative intensity pulsations have been observed in multiple wavelengths in recent years. However, due to the lack of three-dimensional coronal magnetic fields and thermodynamic data in observations, it remains challenging to quantify the coronal heating rate that drives the mass cycles. In this work, based on the MURaM code, we conduct a three-dimensional radiative magnetohydrodynamic simulation spanning from the convective zone to the corona, where the solar atmosphere is heated self-consistently through dissipation resulting from magneto-convection. For the first time, we model the periodic coronal rain in an active region. With a high spatial resolution, the simulation well resembles the observational features across different extreme ultraviolet wavelengths. These include the realistic interweaving coronal loops, periodic coronal rain and periodic intensity pulsations, with two periods of 3.0~h and 3.7~h identified within one loop system. Moreover, the simulation allows for a detailed three-dimensional depiction of coronal rain on small scales, revealing adjacent shower-like rain clumps $\sim500$~km in width and showcasing their multi-thermal internal structures. We further reveal that these periodic variations essentially reflect the cyclic energy evolution of the coronal loop under thermal non-equilibrium state. Importantly, as the driver of the mass circulation, the self-consistent coronal heating rate is considerably complex in time and space, with hour-level variations in one order of magnitude, minute-level bursts, and varying asymmetry reaching ten times between footpoints. This provides an instructive template for the ad hoc heating function, and further enhances our understanding of the coronal heating process.