Mutual Exclusion with O(log^2 Log n) Amortized Work

Abstract

This paper presents a new algorithm for mutual exclusion in which each passage through the critical section costs amortized O(log^2 log n) RMRs with high probability. The algorithm operates in a standard asynchronous, local spinning, shared memory model with an oblivious adversary. It guarantees that every process enters the critical section with high probability. The algorithm achieves its efficient performance by exploiting a connection between mutual exclusion and approximate counting.