  A two-component two-dimensional (2D) dipolar bosonic system in the bilayer
geometry is considered. By performing quantum Monte Carlo simulations in a wide
range of layer spacings we analyze in detail the pair correlation functions,
the static response function, the kinetic and interaction energies. By reducing
the layer spacing we observe a transition from weakly to strongly bound dimer
states. The transition is accompanied by the onset of short-range correlations,
suppression of the superfluid response, and rotonization of the excitation
spectrum. A dispersion law and a dynamic structure factor for the {\em
in-phase} (symmetric) and {\em out-of-phase} (antisymmetric) collective modes,
during the dimerization, is studied in detail with the stochastic
reconstruction method and the method of moments. The antisymmetric mode
spectrum is most strongly influenced by suppression of the inlayer
superfluidity (specified by the superfluid fraction $\gamma_s=\rho_s/\rho$). In
a pure superfluid/normal phase only an acoustic/optical(gapped) mode is
recovered. In a partially superfluid phase, both are present simultaneously,
and the dispersion splits into two branches corresponding to a normal and a
superfluid component. The spectral weight of the acoustic mode scales linearly
with $\gamma_s$. This weight transfers to the optical branch when $\gamma_s$ is
reduced due to formation of dimer states. In summary, we demonstrate how the
interlayer dimerization in dipolar bilayers can be uniquely identified by
static and dynamic properties.
