A quasi-static Time-Field framework reproduces the low-redshift Hubble-diagram shape and yields falsifiable redshift-drift predictions

For nearly a century, the observed cosmological redshift has been interpreted as evidence for an expanding universe within the ΛCDM framework. While this model succeeds broadly, tensions such as the disagreement between local and early-universe determinations of the Hubble Constant motivate complementary approaches. The Time Field Hypothesis (TFH) explores a lapse-structured metric as an alternative route to redshift phenomenology without invoking an explicit time-dependent scale factor. Prior conceptual drafts framed redshift as an integrated gravitational effect in a static, homogeneous universe and proposed testable signatures linking distance scales and observed slopes of the Hubble diagram (carried forward here as historical context and motivation).

In this paper we: (i) perform a data-driven, scale-free low-z reconstruction of the Hubble-diagram shape and test its reproduction in TFH-A2 without using H0; (ii) present redshift-drift predictions that isolate the time-domain consequences of A2 via parameters (ϵ,τ,r⋆); and (iii) document robustness to reasonable analysis choices.