The Massive Black Hole Bias: A Gravitational Origin of the Cosmological Redshift–Distance Relation

Abstract Recent observations, most notably by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), have revealed galaxies at redshifts far higher and with inferred masses far larger than expected within the standard ΛCDM cosmological framework. These findings have intensified longstanding tensions in observational cosmology, including the Hubble tension and the apparent early emergence of massive, luminous structures. In this work we develop a cosmological reinterpretation based on Push Gravity (PG), a physical framework in which gravitation arises from momentum transfer by an omnipresent flux of discrete push particles (gravions), rather than from spacetime curvature. Within PG, gravitational redshift remains finite for any finite mass, but can become extremely large for sufficiently massive and compact systems whose effective gravitational mass is concentrated within a thin Total Absorption Layer (TAL). We show that PG naturally permits gravitational redshifts comparable to those commonly attributed to cosmic expansion, without requiring metric expansion of space. A revised mass–radius relation is derived, leading to a finite minimum mass for a true black hole, defined operationally as an object from which no electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength can escape. By combining PG gravitational redshift with luminosity–radius scaling for maximally compact bodies, we derive a direct relation between observed flux, redshift, and distance that does not rely on standard candles or cosmological distance ladders. This framework introduces a novel Malmquist-type selection effect: at increasing observational distances, only the most massive and compact systems remain detectable, producing an apparent redshift–distance relation that closely mimics Hubble's law. We discuss observational implications for JWST high-redshift galaxies, gravitational-wave detections by LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA, horizon-scale imaging by the Event Horizon Telescope, and the possible reinterpretation of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). The results suggest that large observed redshifts need not imply cosmic expansion, but may instead reflect gravitational redshift associated with compact absorption-layer structures in a static universe.