In mathematics, the Rost invariant is a cohomological invariant of an absolutely simple simply connected algebraic group G over a field k, which associates an element of the Galois cohomology group H3(k, Q/Z(2)) to a principal homogeneous space for G. Here the coefficient group Q/Z(2) is the tensor product of the group of roots of unity of an algebraic closure of k with itself. Markus Rost (1991) first introduced the invariant for groups of type F4 and later extended it to more general groups in unpublished work that was summarized by Serre (1995).
The Rost invariant is a generalization of the Arason invariant.