Quantum information processing architectures typically only allow for nearest-neighbor entanglement creation. In many cases, this prevents the direct generation of GHZ states, which are commonly used for many communication and computation tasks. Here, we show how to obtain GHZ states between nodes in a network that are connected in a straight line, naturally allowing them to initially share linear cluster states. We prove a strict upper bound of ⌊(n+3)/2⌋ on the size of the set of nodes sharing a GHZ state that can be obtained from a linear cluster state of n qubits, using local Clifford unitaries, local Pauli measurements, and classical communication. Furthermore, we completely characterize all selections of nodes below this threshold that can share a GHZ state obtained within this setting. Finally, we demonstrate these transformations on the IBMQ Montreal quantum device for linear cluster states of up to n=19 qubits.
