Ringel Duals of Brauer Algebras via Super Groups

We prove that the Brauer algebra, for all parameters for which it is quasi-hereditary, is Ringel dual to a category of representations of the orthosymplectic super group. As a consequence we obtain new and algebraic proofs for some results on the fundamental theorems of invariant theory for this super group over the complex numbers and also extend them to some cases in positive characteristic. Our methods also apply to the walled Brauer algebra in which case we obtain a duality with the general linear super group, with similar applications.