  In new-physics processes that produce b or c jets, a measurement of the
initial b or c-quark polarization could provide crucial information about the
structure of the new physics. In the heavy-quark limit, the b and c-quark
polarizations are preserved in the lightest baryons they hadronize into,
Lambda_b and Lambda_c, respectively. We revisit the prediction for the
polarization retention after the hadronization process and extend it to the
case of transverse polarization. We show how ATLAS and CMS can measure the
b-quark polarization using semileptonic Lambda_b decays, and the c-quark
polarization using Lambda_c+ -> p K- pi+ decays. For calibrating both
measurements we suggest to use ttbar samples in which these polarizations can
be measured with precision of order 10% using 100/fb of data in Run 2 of the
LHC. Measurements of the transverse polarization in QCD events at ATLAS, CMS
and LHCb are motivated as well. The proposed measurements give access to
nonperturbative QCD parameters relevant to the dynamics of the hadronization
process.
