Cosmic Potential Field I: A Preliminary Theoretical Framework for Scale-Dependent WJ Gravity and Cosmic Tension Dynamics

This Zenodo record presents the open-access manuscript and reproducibility archive for Cosmic Potential Field I, a consolidated formulation of the scale-dependent WJ gravitational and cosmological framework. The problem addressed by WJ is not merely how to reproduce galaxy rotation curves, but whether the gravitational excess conventionally attributed to a non-baryonic dark component can be assigned a calculable physical origin and connected consistently across cosmic epochs. The central WJ hypothesis is that an evolving cosmic-potential background accumulates with cosmic time and produces a contribution termed cosmic tension. In weakly shielded environments, this background is proposed as the physical source of the additional gravitational response; in baryon-rich environments, its macroscopic effect is suppressed by baryonic shielding. CORE PHYSICAL ARCHITECTURE At macroscopic resolution, the framework treats baryon-shielded domains and cosmic-tension-dominated domains as spatially complementary and locally non-overlapping regimes within the same Universe. A macroscopic region or cosmological line of sight may nevertheless contain both regimes in different proportions. The shielding quantity η_b is therefore interpreted as a coarse-grained occupancy or shielding measure rather than as the microscopic coexistence of both phases at exactly the same point. A possible extremely weak microscopic residual coupling inside baryonic matter is retained as a separate hypothesis and is not used in the present astronomical calculations. The parent phenomenological decomposition is written as WJ = η_b a_N + (1 − η_b) g_w T_cos(z), where a_N is the baryonic Newtonian acceleration, T_cos(z) is the cosmic age and g_w is a global acceleration-accumulation rate with dimensions of m s^-3. The corresponding weak-field scale is a_0(z) = g_w T_cos(z) / π. For galaxy dynamics, the effective acceleration is calculated through a_WJ = a_N/2 + sqrt[a_N^2/4 + a_N a_0(z)]. The value currently used is g_w = (9.66 ± 0.05) × 10^-28 m s^-3. It is globally normalized from the local weak-field acceleration scale and is subsequently held fixed across galaxies and redshifts; it is not adjusted separately for individual objects. This construction distinguishes WJ from a static-a_0 prescription. At the present epoch, the two descriptions can be locally equivalent, so nearby-galaxy data alone cannot strongly distinguish them. At high redshift, however, the younger cosmic age produces a smaller a_0(z), causing the WJ prediction to approach the baryonic Newtonian limit. Redshift-dependent galaxy kinematics therefore provide the principal discriminating test. GALAXY-DYNAMICS EVIDENCE AND DIAGNOSTICS Galaxy dynamics is presently the most quantitatively developed sector of the framework. The local benchmark uses 118 galaxies from the SPARC database. After one global normalization, WJ generates forward asymptotic-velocity predictions without galaxy-by-galaxy halo parameters, individual a_0 adjustments or object-specific fitting of distance, inclination or stellar mass-to-light ratio. The reported median absolute fractional residual is 9.74 per cent. Because the global normalization is connected to the local weak-field acceleration scale, this result is presented as a reproducibility and consistency benchmark rather than as an independent derivation of that scale. An intermediate-redshift benchmark-control layer uses nine KROSS/Sharma objects at z approximately 0.84–0.96. Five objects favour the evolving WJ or intermediate prescription, three favour the static local-a_0 control, and one is effectively degenerate. This mixed result is retained as a diagnostic of possible redshift evolution, not described as a complete resolved-rotation-curve validation. UGC 07125 is preserved as a high-residual local diagnostic object. The original SPARC inputs give a WJ asymptotic velocity of 107.74 km s^-1 compared with the reported value of 64.57 km s^-1. An independent supernova-associated distance lowers the prediction to 95.64 km s^-1 and reduces the residual from 66.86 to approximately 48.1 per cent, but does not resolve the discrepancy. The object therefore remains a falsifiable target for improved distance, inclination, geometry and extended H I measurements. REBELS-25 at z = 7.31 provides a conditional high-redshift test. At this epoch, a_0(z) is approximately five per cent of its present value. Under the adopted published baryon-dominated mass model, WJ predicts approximately 350.7 km s^-1 near 2 kpc, consistent with the reported ALMA rotation velocity of 366 (+30/-31) km s^-1. Because the adopted mass normalization contains kinematic information, this is classified as conditional consistency rather than independent confirmation. The stronger WJ forecast is a turnover at approximately 3–4 kpc followed by a declining outer rotation curve. A robust extended flat curve at larger radii would strongly disfavor the proposed cosmic-age dependence. COSMOLOGICAL AND PROPAGATION SECTORS The same cosmic-potential architecture is extended to expansion history, CMB acoustic geometry, dark-sector interpretation and macroscopic propagation. A fixed-H_0 calculation using H_0 = 68.84 km s^-1 Mpc^-1 is compared with 496 Pantheon+ Type Ia supernovae over 0.023 < z < 0.15, producing the reported reduced statistic χ²_ν = 1.0589. The CMB construction gives an analytic geometric estimate of the first acoustic-peak location near l = 220. These are explicit calculations within the proposed framework, but they do not yet constitute a joint cosmological likelihood analysis or a calculation of the complete TT, TE, EE and lensing spectra. The manuscript also introduces the term WJ cosmic ether for the physically proposed cosmic-tension propagation background. This is distinct from the nineteenth-century mechanical luminiferous ether and from the elastic-fabric analogy used to visualize spacetime curvature. In the WJ interpretation, terrestrial and Solar-System measurements are performed in a macroscopically baryon-shielded environment and therefore recover the locally clamped measured value of c. Possible propagation differences are instead sought along cosmological paths passing through weakly shielded regions. A formal line-of-sight time-of-flight functional is provided for GRBs, strongly lensed transients and multimessenger observations. This component defines a falsifiable research programme but is not yet an operational absolute arrival-time predictor. Its implementation requires an independently reconstructed shielding profile, a physically derived signal or group velocity and a consistent covariant propagation geometry. REPRODUCIBILITY MATERIALS The deposited files include the manuscript, observational inputs, derived tables, numerical scripts, diagnostic calculations and figure-generation materials. The principal packages are: 1. WJ_Hubble_Validation_Package.zip, containing the Hubble-expansion and Pantheon+ calculation materials. 2. WJ_MNRAS_supplementary_code_data_2026-08-04.zip, containing the SPARC benchmark, KROSS/Sharma comparison, UGC 07125 diagnostic and conditional REBELS-25 calculation. The packages include README documentation describing data provenance, scripts, evidence roles, limitations and expected outputs. Third-party datasets remain governed by the citation and usage requirements of their original authors and collaborations. STATUS AND LIMITATIONS WJ remains a developing phenomenological framework rather than a completed covariant gravitational theory. The current value of g_w is empirically normalized rather than independently derived from a fundamental action; a closed profile-level prescription for η_b remains to be established; the cosmological sector has not yet undergone full-spectrum and joint-dataset testing; and the propagation sector still requires a consistent effective-metric and signal-speed derivation. The purpose of this record is therefore to present a unified physical-source hypothesis, its current calculational structure, its reproducible quantitative results, its unresolved anomalies and a set of observations capable of falsifying its principal sectors. COMPETING INTEREST AND PATENT DISCLOSURE The author declares a potential competing financial interest. W. Zhang has filed patent application No. 2026102178711 concerning computational and theoretical methodologies associated with the WJ framework. The patent application did not influence the reporting of the astronomical analyses or the deposited reproducibility materials. LICENSE AND USE This record is provided for academic research, verification and reproducibility. Commercial use of the author’s original theoretical and computational materials is not permitted without prior permission. Third-party datasets included or referenced in the packages remain governed by their original licences and data-use policies.