Asymptotic freedom in higher-derivative quantum gravity

Abstract We investigate the ultraviolet limit in the renormalizable higher-derivative gravity theory with a quadratic lagrangian of a general type and find the previous attempts at these investigations to be in error. The off-shell one-loop counterterms of the recently proposed unique effective action are computed in this theory, and in the case of the positive definite euclidean action the theory is shown to be asymptotically free. The possibility of restoring the unitarity due to radiative corrections is also discussed with regard to this positivity.