't Hooft vertices, partial quenching, and rooted staggered QCD

We discuss the properties of 't Hooft vertices in partially quenched and rooted versions of QCD in the continuum. These theories have a physical subspace, equivalent to ordinary QCD, that is contained within a larger space that includes many unphysical correlation functions. We find that the 't Hooft vertices in the physical subspace have the expected form, despite the presence of unphysical 't Hooft vertices appearing in correlation functions that have an excess of valence quarks (or ghost quarks). We also show that, due to the singular behavior of unphysical correlation functions as the massless limit is approached, order parameters for nonanomalous symmetries can be nonvanishing in finite volume if these symmetries act outside of the physical subspace. Using these results, we demonstrate that arguments recently given by Creutz-claiming to disprove the validity of rooted staggered QCD-are incorrect. In particular, the unphysical 't Hooft vertices do not present an obstacle to the recovery of taste symmetry in the continuum limit.