Insulating phases of electrons on a zigzag strip in the orbital magnetic field

We consider electrons on a two-leg triangular ladder at half filling and in an orbital magnetic field. In a two-band regime in the absence of the field, the electronic system remains conducting for weak interactions since there is no four-fermion umklapp term. We find that in the presence of the orbital field there is a four-fermion umklapp and it is always relevant for repulsive interactions. Thus in this special ladder, the combination of the orbital magnetic field and interactions provides a mechanism to drive metal-insulator transition already at weak coupling. We discuss properties of the possible resulting phases C0S2 and various C0S1 and C0S0.