  We present Subaru/HiCIAO H-band high-contrast images of the debris disk
around HIP 79977, whose pres- ence was recently inferred from an infrared
excess. Our images resolve the disk for the first time, allowing
characterization of its shape, size, and dust grain properties. We use angular
differential imaging (ADI) to reveal the disk geometry in unpolarized light out
to a radius of ~2", as well as polarized differential imaging (PDI) to measure
the degree of scattering polarization out to ~1.5". In order to strike a
favorable balance between suppression of the stellar halo and conservation of
disk flux, we explore the application of principal component analysis (PCA) to
both ADI and reference star subtraction. This allows accurate forward modeling
of the effects of data reduction on simulated disk images, and thus direct
comparison with the imaged disk. The resulting best-fit values and well-fitting
intervals for the model parameters are a surface brightness power-law slope of
S_out = -3.2 [-3.6,-2.9], an inclination of i = 84{\deg} [81{\deg},86{\deg}], a
high Henyey-Greenstein forward-scattering parameter of g = 0.45 [0.35, 0.60],
and a non-significant disk-star offset of u = 3.0 [-1.5, 7.5] AU = 24 [-13, 61]
mas along the line of nodes. Furthermore, the tangential linear polarization
along the disk rises from ~10% at 0.5" to ~45% at 1.5". These measurements
paint a consistent picture of a disk of dust grains produced by collisional
cascades and blown out to larger radii by stellar radiation pressure.
