Source Energy Field Theory: A Novel Framework for Cosmic Structure Formation

Modern cosmology continues to struggle with unresolved questions concerning the origins of dark matter and dark energy. To explore these challenges, this study presents the Source Energy Field Theory (SEFT)—a new theoretical framework that offers an alternative view of how cosmic structures may form and evolve. SEFT envisions the universe as filled with a fundamental energy field, where the observed cosmological redshift does not result from accelerated expansion but rather emerges from the distance-dependent modulation of the energy field and the curvature produced by this field. To evaluate this idea, a nonlinear wave equation was developed to connect redshift with right ascension, declination, and distance. The model was optimized using 1701 observational data points from the Pantheon+ and SH0ES samples, which include Type Ia supernovae and Cepheid variables spanning distances from 6.3 to 17,241 Mpc. Its performance was compared with that of the standard ΛCDM model. SEFT achieved a slightly lower root-mean-square error (145.521 vs. 147.665 Mpc), a marginally higher determination coefficient (R2 = 0.9910 vs. 0.9908), and significantly improved information criteria values (ΔAIC = −41.753, ΔBIC = −19.997). These results provide robust statistical support for SEFT and suggest that it can complement—and potentially extend—the ΛCDM paradigm in describing the structure and evolution of the universe.