  Observations of reconnection jets in the solar corona are emerging as a
possible diagnostic to study highly elusive coronal heating. Such nanojets can
be observed in coronal loops and they have been linked to nanoflares. However,
while models successfully describe the bilateral post-reconnection magnetic
slingshot effect that leads to the jets, observations reveal that nanojets are
unidirectional, or highly asymmetric, with only the jet travelling inward with
respect to the coronal loop's curvature being clearly observed. The aim of this
work is to address the role of the curvature of the coronal loop in asymmetric
reconnection jets. In order to do so, we first use a simplified analytical
model where we estimate the post-reconnection tension forces based on the local
intersection angle between the pre-reconnection magnetic field lines and on
their post-reconnection retracting length towards new equilibria. Second, we
use a simplified numerical magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model to study how two
opposite propagating jets evolve in curved magnetic field lines. Our analytical
model demonstrates that in the post-reconnection reorganised magnetic field,
the inward directed magnetic tension is inherently stronger (up to 3 orders of
magnitude) than the outward directed one and that, with a large enough
retracting length, a regime exists where the outward directed tension
disappears, leading to no outward jet at large, observable scales. Our MHD
numerical model provides support for these results proving also that in the
following time evolution the inward jets are consistently more energetic. The
degree of asymmetry is also found to increase for small-angle reconnection and
for more localised reconnection regions. This work shows that the curvature of
the coronal loops plays a role in the asymmetry of the reconnection jets and
inward directed jets are more likely to occur and more energetic.
