Mutual Exclusion with O(log logn) Amortized Work

This paper presents a new algorithm for mutual exclusion in which each passage through the critical section costs amortized O(log log n) RMRs with high probability. The algorithm operates in a standard asynchronous, local spinning, sharedmemory 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.