Deformation operators of spin networks and coarse-graining

In the context of loop quantum gravity, quantum states of geometry are mathematically defined as spin networks living on graphs embedded in the canonical space-like hypersurface. In the effort to study the renormalization flow of loop gravity, a necessary step is to understand the coarse-graining of these states in order to describe their relevant structure at various scales. Using the spinor network formalism to describe the phase space of loop gravity on a given graph, we focus on a bounded (connected) region of the graph and coarse-grain it to a single vertex using a gauge-fixing procedure. We discuss the ambiguities in the gauge-fixing procedure and its consequences for coarse-graining spin(or) networks. This allows to define the boundary deformations of that region in a gauge-invariant fashion and to identify the area preserving deformations as U(N) transformations similarly to the already well-studied case of a single intertwiner. The novelty is that the closure constraint is now relaxed and the closure defect interpreted as a local measure of the curvature inside the coarse-grained region. It is nevertheless possible to cancel the closure defect by a Lorentz boost. We further identify a Lorentz-invariant observable related to the area and closure defect, which we name 'rest area'. Its physical meaning remains an open issue. (paper)