Variants of theorems of Baer and Hall on finite-by-hypercentral groups

We show that if a group $G$ has a finite normal subgroup $L$ such that $G/L$ is hypercentral, then the index of the hypercenter of $G$ is bounded by a function of the order of $L$. This completes recent results generalizing classical theorems by R. Baer and P. Hall. Then we apply our results to groups of automorphisms of a group $G$ acting in a restricted way on an ascending normal series of $G$.