Redshift in Light Universe Theory: A Reinterpretation of the Universe Without Spatial Expansion

This work presents a conceptual reinterpretation of cosmological redshift within the framework of Light Universe Theory. While redshift is commonly understood as evidence of the expansion of space, this paper explores an alternative viewpoint in which redshift arises from intrinsic, cumulative changes in the state of light during propagation. The approach does not dispute observational data, nor does it attempt to refute standard cosmology. Instead, it shifts the explanatory emphasis from spacetime dynamics to light itself, treating space and time as secondary concepts defined through the behavior of light. In this framework, redshift is not attributed to energy loss, scattering, or spatial stretching, but to a structured transformation inherent to light over large distances. By reframing redshift in this way, the need for additional assumptions such as dark energy or cosmic inflation is reduced at the interpretative level. The resulting perspective reproduces a Hubble-like distance–redshift relationship without invoking cosmic expansion, offering a minimal and intuitive alternative reading of one of cosmology’s most fundamental observations. This paper is intended as an essay-style theoretical exploration, aimed at clarifying foundational assumptions rather than proposing a competing observational model.