Classifying forms of simple groups via their invariant polynomials

Let G be a simple linear algebraic group over a field F, and V an absolutely irreducible representation of G. We show that under some mild hypotheses there exists an invariant homogeneous polynomial f for the action of G on V defined over F, such that twisted forms of f up to a scalar multiple classify twisted forms of G for which the representation V is defined over F. This result extends the classical case of a quadratic form q and its orthogonal group O(q). (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.