JWST Without Expansion

This work does not propose a new cosmological model, nor does it claim to reproduce structure formation, recombination microphysics, or the CMB power spectrum. It instead examines limited, testable consequences of a previously established background level redshift framework in which frequency-independent redshift is described by collisionless Liouville evolution without requiring metric expansion. Treating an illustrative post-recombination relaxation form for the redshift kernel as a concrete hypothesis, this analysis shows that the parameterization predicts reduced cosmic assembly time at z ≳ 10 relative to standard ΛCDM. Observations of early massive galaxies by JWST therefore act as an empirical constraint on the relaxation timescale and initial kernel rate, bounding the allowed post-recombination dynamics rather than resolving timing tensions. The paper further proves that frequency- independent redshift operators preserve angular multipole structure, once present, under collisionless evolution, establishing that the existence of CMB anisotropies alone does not logically discriminate between expansion and non-expansion redshift mechanisms at the level of angular transport. The analysis concludes by clarifying the precise observational content of CMB background and anisotropy data, explicitly delineating which inferences are supported and which require additional dynamical assumptions.