High-spin states of 39K and 42Ca

High-spin states of ³⁹K and ⁴²Ca have been investigated with the ²⁸Si(¹⁶O, αpγ)³⁹K and ²⁸Si(¹⁶O, 2pγ)⁴²Ca reactions at a beam energy of 45 MeV. Gamma-gamma coincidence, γ-ray angular distribution and linear polarization measurements were performed with a Ge(Li)-NaI(Tl) Compton suppression spectrometer and a three-crystal Ge(Li) Compton polarimeter. High-spin states of ³⁹K at E_x = 7.14,7.78and8.03 and of ⁴²Ca at E_x = 7.75MeV are established. Unambiguous spin-parity assignments of $\text{J}{}^{\mathrm{\pi }}\text{=}\text{11}\text{2}{}^{\mathrm{?}}\text{,}\text{13}\text{2}{}^{\mathrm{?}}\text{,}\text{15}\text{2}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{,}\text{15}\text{2}{}^{\mathrm{?}}\text{,}\text{17}\text{2}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{and}\text{19}\text{2}{}^{\mathrm{?}}$ to the ³⁹K levels at E_x = 5.35, 5.72, 6.48, 7.14, 7.78 and 8.03 MeV and of 6^?, 7^?, 8^?, 9^? and(8, 10)^? to the ⁴²Ca levels at E_x = 5.49, 6.15, 6.41, 6.55 and 7.37 MeV, respectively, have been obtained. Further spin-parity restrictions, lifetime limits, excitation energies, branching ratios and multipole mixing ratios are reported. Discrepancies with previous J^π assignments are discussed in detail.