Radio Emission with Dust: A Bow-Shock Interpretation for the TDE Candidate AT 2019avd

Abstract: Forward shocks produced by interactions between a single ejected blob and the circumnuclear medium (CNM) around a supermassive black hole are widely invoked to explain radio emission from tidal disruption events (TDEs). However, recent observational evidence such as rapidly rising radio emission, double-peaked broadband spectral energy distributions, and declining shock energies at late times poses challenges to this picture. Alternative scenarios have therefore been proposed, including bow shocks arising from outflows colliding with dense clouds, the production of new ejecta at late times, and variations in microphysical parameters. To investigate the roles of these factors, we analyze the long-lived radio flare of the TDE candidate AT 2019avd, for which dust has been identified through mid-infrared observations, using a radio dataset spanning more than five years. We find that a bow-shock scenario can account for the majority of the observed radio emission, while a forward shock, or an additional bow shock involving different clouds, may begin to dominate at late times. However, a forward-shock scenario remains viable when allowing for evolving microphysical parameters and more complex CNM structures. We discuss the remaining tensions in both the outflow-CNM and outflow-cloud interaction scenarios.