Chern classes and the Rost cohomological invariant (Q1951673)

Let \(G\) be a simple simply connected Lie group and \(G_k\) be its corresponding split linear group over a field \(k\subset\mathbb{C}\), and let \(p\) be a prime number. The ring of cohomological invariants \(\mathrm{Inv}^*(G_k;\mathbb{Z}/p)\) is defined to be ring generated by the natural functors \(H^1(F;G_k)\to H^i(F;\mathbb{Z}/p)\) for the category of finitely generated fields \(F\) over \(k\) (for details, see \textit{S. Garibaldi} et al. [Cohomological invariants in Galois cohomology. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS) (2003; Zbl 1159.12311)]). If the complex Lie group \(G\) has \(p\)-torsion in \(H^*(G)\), then \textit{M. Rost} constructed a nonzero invariant \(R(G_k)\in \mathrm{Inv}^3(G_k;\mathbb{Z}/p)\) [``On the basic correspondence of a splitting variety'', Preprint]. In this short note, the author gives a new proof of the existence of this invariant for \(k=\mathbb{C}\) using motivic cohomology and Chern classes. First, he uses a result by \textit{B. Totaro} [Proc. Symp. Pure Math. 67, 249--281 (1999; Zbl 0967.14005)] that yields \(\mathrm{Inv}^3(G_k;\mathbb{Z}/p)\cong H^0(BG_k;H^3_{\mathbb{Z}/p})\), the degree zero cohomology of the Zariski sheaf induced by the presheaf \(H^*_{\text{ét}}(V;\mathbb{Z}/p)\) for open subsets \(V\) of the classifying space \(BG_k\) of \(G_k\). Invoking the veracity of the Beilinson-Lichtenbaum conjecture, he derives a decomposition of \(H^0(BG_k;H^3_{\mathbb{Z}/p})\) into a direct sum and shows, using Chern classes, that one of the summands must contain a nontrivial element which, by construction, must correspond to \(R(G_k)\).