We investigate the charge-order transition at zero temperature in a two-leg
Hubbard ladder with additional nearest-neighbor Coulomb repulsion V using
the density matrix renormalization group technique. We consider electron de
nsities between quarter and half filling. For quarter filling and U = 8t, w
e find evidence for a continuous phase transition between a homogeneous sta
te at small V and a broken-symmetry state with "checkerboard" [wave vector
Q = (pi, pi)] charge order at large V. This transition to a checkerboard ch
arge-ordered state remains present at all larger fillings, but becomes disc
ontinuous at sufficiently large filling. We discuss the influence of U/t on
the transition and estimate the position of the tricritical points. [S0163
-1829(99)52236-4].