Truncated layer-cake proof of the L2 maximal inequality ($\Vert M_t{\Vert }_2\le 2\Vert X_t{\Vert }_2$)

For a nonnegative submartingale with maximum $M_t$, the first-moment maximal estimate is $\lambda \mathbb{P}(M_t\ge \lambda )\le \mathbb{E}[X_t{1}_{\{M_t\ge \lambda \}}]$. Integrate $2\lambda$ times the tail probability only up to $R$, obtaining $\mathbb{E}(M_t\wedge R{)}^2\le 2\mathbb{E}[X_t(M_t\wedge R)]$. The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality gives $\Vert M_t\wedge R{\Vert }_2\le 2\Vert X_t{\Vert }_2$, and monotone convergence gives the result as $R\to \infty$. Truncation avoids assuming beforehand that the maximum has a finite second moment.

// Target: brownian-motion.bigb