Invariants of upper motives

Let H be a homology theory for algebraic varieties over a field k. To a complete k-variety X, one naturally attaches an ideal HX(k) of the coefficient ring H(k). We show that, when X is regular, this ideal depends only on the upper Chow motive of X. This generalises the classical results asserting that this ideal is a birational invariant of smooth varieties for particular choices of H, such as the Chow group. When H is the Grothendieck group of coherent sheaves, we obtain a lower bound on the canonical dimension of varieties. When H is the algebraic cobordism, we give a new proof of a theorem of Levine and Morel. Finally we discuss some splitting properties of geometrically unirational field extensions of small transcendence degree.