Noncommutative maximal inequalities associated with convex functions

We prove several noncommutative maximal inequalities associated with convex functions, including a Doob type inequality for a convex function of maximal operators on noncommutative martingales, noncommutative Dunford-Schwartz and Stein maximal ergodic inequalities for a convex function of positive and symmetric positive contractions. The key ingredient in our proofs is a Marcinkiewicz type interpolation theorem for a convex function of maximal operators in the noncommutative setting, which we establish in this paper. These generalize the results of Junge and Xu in the Lp case to the case of convex functions.