On the blocks of the walled Brauer algebra

We determine the blocks of the walled Brauer algebra in characteristic zero. These can be described in terms of orbits of the action of a Weyl group of type $A$ on a certain set of weights. In positive characteristic we give a linkage principle in terms of orbits of the corresponding affine Weyl group. We also classify the semisimple walled Brauer algebras in all characteristics.