There are several related but distinct notions of central product. Similarly to the direct product, there are both internal and external characterizations, and additionally there are variations on how strictly the intersection of the factors is controlled.

A group G is an internal central product of two subgroups H, K if

1. G is generated by H and K.
2. Every element of H commutes with every element of K. (Gorenstein 1980, p. 29)

Sometimes the stricter requirement that ${\displaystyle H\cap K}$  is exactly equal to the center is imposed, as in (Leedham-Green & McKay 2002, p. 32). The subgroups H and K are then called central factors of G.

The external central product is constructed from two groups H and K, two subgroups ${\displaystyle H_{1}\leq Z(H)}$  and ${\displaystyle K_{1}\leq Z(K)}$ , and a group isomorphism ${\displaystyle \theta \colon H_{1}\to K_{1}}$ . The external central product is the quotient of the direct product ${\displaystyle H\times K}$  by the normal subgroup

${\displaystyle N=\{(h,k):h\in H_{1},k\in K_{1},{\text{ and }}\theta (h)\cdot k=1\}}$ ,

(Gorenstein 1980, p. 29). Sometimes the stricter requirement that H₁ = Z(H) and K₁ = Z(K) is imposed, as in (Leedham-Green & McKay 2002, p. 32).

An internal central product is isomorphic to an external central product with H₁ = K₁ = H ∩ K and θ the identity. An external central product is an internal central product of the images of H × 1 and 1 × K in the quotient group ${\displaystyle (H\times K)/N}$ . This is shown for each definition in (Gorenstein 1980, p. 29) and (Leedham-Green & McKay 2002, pp. 32–33).

Note that the external central product is not in general determined by its factors H and K alone. The isomorphism type of the central product will depend on the isomorphism θ. It is however well defined in some notable situations, for example when H and K are both finite extra special groups and ${\displaystyle H_{1}=Z(H)}$  and ${\displaystyle K_{1}=Z(K)}$ .

• The Pauli group is the central product of the cyclic group ${\displaystyle C_{4}}$  and the dihedral group ${\displaystyle D_{4}}$ .
• Every extra special group is a central product of extra special groups of order p³.
• The layer of a finite group, that is, the subgroup generated by all subnormal quasisimple subgroups, is a central product of quasisimple groups in the sense of Gorenstein.

The representation theory of central products is very similar to the representation theory of direct products, and so is well understood, (Gorenstein 1980, Ch. 3.7).

Central products occur in many structural lemmas, such as (Gorenstein 1980, p. 350, Lemma 10.5.5) which is used in George Glauberman's result that finite groups admitting a Klein four group of fixed-point-free automorphisms are solvable.

In certain context of a tensor product of Lie modules (and other related structures), the automorphism group contains a central product of the automorphism groups of each factor (Aranda-Orna 2022, ${\displaystyle \S }$  4).

• Gorenstein, Daniel (1980), Finite Groups, New York: Chelsea, ISBN 978-0-8284-0301-6, MR 0569209
• Leedham-Green, C. R.; McKay, Susan (2002), The structure of groups of prime power order, London Mathematical Society Monographs. New Series, vol. 27, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-853548-5, MR 1918951
• Aranda-Orna, Diego (2022), On the Faulkner construction for generalized Jordan superpairs, Linear Algebra and its Applications, vol. 646, pp. 1–28