Polynomial identities on superalgebras and almost polynomial growth

Let A be a superalgebra over a field of characteristic zero. In this paper we investigate the graded polynomial identities of A through the asymptotic behavior of a numerical sequence called the sequence of graded codimensions of A. Our main result says that such sequence is polynomially bounded if and only if the variety of superalgebras generated by A does not contain a list of five superalgebras consisting of a 2-dimensional algebra, the infinite dimensional Grassmann algebra and the algebra of 2 x 2 upper triangular matrices with trivial and nontrivial gradings. Our main tool is the representation theory of the symmetric group.