We develop the version of the $J$-invariant for hermitian forms over quadratic extensions in a similar way Alexander Vishik did it for quadratic forms. This discrete invariant contains informations about rationality of algebraic cycles on the maximal unitary grassmannian associated with a hermitan form over a quadratic extension. The computation of the canonical $2$-dimension of this grassmannian in terms of the $J$-invariant is provided, as well as a complete motivic decomposition.
Categories: math.AG