Normalisation by Random Descent

We present abstract hyper-normalisation results for strategies. These results are then applied to term rewriting systems, both first and higher-order. For example, we show hyper-normalisation of the left--outer strategy for, what we call, left--outer pattern rewrite systems, a class comprising both Combinatory Logic and the lambda-calculus but also systems with critical pairs. Our results apply to strategies that need not be deterministic but do have Newman's random descent property: all reductions to normal form have the same length, with Huet and Levy's external strategy being an example. Technically, we base our development on supplementing the usual notion of commutation diagram with a notion of order, expressing that the measure of its right leg does not exceed that of its left leg, where measure is an abstraction of the usual notion of length. We give an exact characterisation of such global commutation diagrams, for pairs of reductions, by means of local ones, for pairs of steps, we dub Dyck diagrams.