On the relation between upper central quotients and lower central series of a group

Let be a group with a normal subgroup contained in the upper central subgroup . In this article we study the influence of the quotient group on the lower central subgroup . In particular, for any finite group we give bounds on the order and exponent of . For equal to a dihedral group, or quaternion group, or extra-special group we list all possible groups that can arise as . Our proofs involve: (i) the Baer invariants of , (ii) the Schur multiplier of relative to a normal subgroup , and (iii) the nonabelian tensor product of groups. Some results on the nonabelian tensor product may be of independent interest.