A Poincare Gauge Theory of Gravitation in Minkowski Spacetime

The conventional role of spacetime geometry in the description of gravity is pointed out. Global Poincar$\acute{\mbox{e}}$ symmetry as an inner symmetry of field theories defined on a fixed Minkowski spacetime is discussed. Its extension to local {\bf P\/} gauge symmetry and the corresponding {\bf P\/} gauge fields are introduced. Their minimal coupling to matter is obtained. The scaling behaviour of the partition function of a spinor in {\bf P\/} gauge field backgrounds is computed. The corresponding renormalization constraint is used to determine a minimal gauge field dynamics.