We prove that the standard motives of a semisimple algebraic group$G$with coefficients in a field of order$p$are determined by the upper motives of the group $G$. As a consequence of this result, we obtain a partial version of the motivic rigidity conjecture of special linear groups. The result is then used to construct the higher indexes which characterize the motivic equivalence of semisimple algebraic groups. The criteria of motivic equivalence derived from the expressions of these indexes produce a dictionary between motives, algebraic structures and the birational geometry of twisted flag varieties. This correspondence is then described for special linear groups and orthogonal groups (the criteria associated with other groups being obtained in De Clercq and Garibaldi [Tits$p$-indexes of semisimple algebraic groups, J. Lond. Math. Soc. (2)95(2017) 567–585]). The proofs rely on the Levi-type motivic decompositions of isotropic twisted flag varieties due to Chernousov, Gille and Merkurjev, and on the notion of pondered field extensions.
On an analog of Serre’s conjectures, Galois cohomology and defining equation of unipotent algebraic groups
