Context: A substantial fraction of protoplanetary disks forms around stellar
binaries. The binary system generates a time-dependent non-axisymmetric
gravitational potential, inducing strong tidal forces on the circumbinary disk.
This leads to a change in basic physical properties of the circumbinary disk,
which should in turn result in unique structures that are potentially
observable with the current generation of instruments.
Aims: The goal of this study is to identify these characteristic structures,
to constrain the physical conditions that cause them, and to evaluate the
feasibility to observe them in circumbinary disks.
Methods: To achieve this, at first two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations
are performed. The resulting density distributions are post-processed with a 3D
radiative transfer code to generate re-emission and scattered light maps. Based
on these, we study the influence of various parameters, such as the mass of the
stellar components, the mass of the disk and the binary separation on
observable features in circumbinary disks.
Results: We find that the Atacama Large (sub-)Millimetre Array (ALMA) as well
as the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) are capable of tracing
asymmetries in the inner region of circumbinary disks which are affected most
by the binary-disk interaction. Observations at submillimetre/millimetre
wavelengths will allow the detection of the density waves at the inner rim of
the disk and the inner cavity. With the E-ELT one can partially resolve the
innermost parts of the disk in the infrared wavelength range, including the
disk's rim, accretion arms and potentially the expected circumstellar disks
around each of the binary components
