Static three- and four-quark potentials

We present results for the static three- and four-quark potentials in SU(3) and SU(4) respectively. Using a variational approach, combined with multi-hit for the time-like links, we determine the ground state of the baryonic string with sufficient accuracy to test the $Y-$ and $\Delta-$ ans\"atze for the baryonic Wilson area law. Our results favor the $\Delta$ ansatz, where the potential is the sum of two-body terms.