On nilpotent extensions of algebraic number fields I

The lower central series of the absolute Galois group of a field is obtained by iterating the process of forming the maximal central extension of the maximal nilpotent extension of a given class, starting with the maximal abelian extension. The purpose of this paper is to give a cohomological description of this central series in case of an algebraic number field. This description is based on a result of Tate which states that the Schur multiplier of the absolute Galois group of a number field is trivial. We are in a profinite situation throughout which requires some functorial background especially for treating the dual of the Schur multiplier of a profinite group. In a future paper we plan to apply our results to construct a nilpotent reciprocity map.