'Way back in the days of computer programming, they were called "transfer"
(Assembler), "goto" (COBOL, FORTRAN, others), and "branch."
The arrows mean that the icon is not the program, but merely a "link" to it.
That's why you get a reminder that deleting the icon does not delete the
program itself.
I think the arrows can be removed with TweakUI, but I don't recommend it.
Probably it's more of a shortcut link to that of the software that yo
have installed in your computer. But to think of it this is the firs
time that anybody did bother about why is it like that. A new lesso
here