Base difference image between AIA 193 Å observations on 22 April at 08:24 UT and 09:24 UT. The AIA images are re-projected onto the local Cartesian coordinates of the re-projected magnetogram series forming the bottom of the simulation box (Sect. 3.2 and Fig. 1). The blue and red contours correspond to the −100 and 100 Mx cm⁻² contours of the photospheric B_z magnetic field component, respectively. The lime and orange curves enclose the approximate position of the negative- and positive-polarity footpoints, respectively, of the pre-eruptive flux rope system (both main and intertwined FRs) at 08:36 UT, determined from the simulation. The magenta dashed curve encloses the dimming region that includes the negative-polarity footpoints of the FR system. An animated version of this figure can be found online.