Gravitational Two-Loop Counterterm Is Asymptotically Safe

Weinberg's asymptotic safety scenario provides an elegant mechanism to construct a quantum theory of gravity within the framework of quantum field theory based on a non-Gaussian fixed point of the renormalization group flow. In this work we report novel evidence for the validity of this scenario, using functional renormalization group techniques to determine the renormalization group flow of the Einstein-Hilbert action supplemented by the two-loop counterterm found by Goroff and Sagnotti. The resulting system of beta functions comprises three scale-dependent coupling constants and exhibits a non-Gaussian fixed point which constitutes the natural extension of the one found at the level of the Einstein-Hilbert action. The fixed point exhibits two ultraviolet attractive and one repulsive direction supporting a low-dimensional UV-critical hypersurface. Our result vanquishes the long-standing criticism that asymptotic safety will not survive once a proper perturbative counterterm is included in the projection space.