Skip to main navigation Skip to search Skip to main content

Personal profile

Research interests

My research involves the application of novel analysis methods to astronomical data. The main focus is time series analysis of light curves from accreting compact objects (black holes and neutron stars), where the goal is to understand gravity in the strong field regime, extreme physics and the role these objects play in shaping the universe. In particular, I use X-ray reverberation mapping and quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) to study matter spiralling in the inner accretion flow around a black hole. I am currently working on neural network methods to find important signals in the presence of red noise.

I also work on interdisciplinary machine learning projects, including climate science, economics and cryptography.

Personal webpages: https://coherentnoise.space

Teaching specialisms

I am the module leader for the Data Science courses on Advanced Research Topics and Research Methods. In these modules, the students are exposed to cutting-edge data science methods and there application in a research setting as well as their use in industry. I also supervise several Masters reserach projects.

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics where William Alston is active. These topic labels come from the works of this person. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
  • 1 Similar Profiles

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or
  • The Broadband View of the Bare Seyfert PG 1426+015: Relativistic Reflection, the Soft Excess and the Importance of Oxygen

    Walton, D. J., Madathil-Pottayil, A., Kosec, P., Jiang, J., Garcia, J., Fabian, A. C., Pinto, C., Buisson, D. J. K., Parker, M. L., Alston, W. N. & Reynolds, C. S., 30 Nov 2025, In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS). 543, 3, 16 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Open Access
    File
    4 Downloads (Pure)
  • A new broad-band spectral state in the ultraluminous X-ray source Holmberg IX X-1

    Walton, D. J., Bachetti, M., Kosec, P., Fürst, F., Pinto, C., Roberts, T. P., Soria, R., Stern, D., Alston, W. N., Brightman, M., Earnshaw, H. P., Fabian, A. C., Harrison, F. A., Middleton, M. J. & Sathyaprakash, R., 30 Sept 2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 543, 3, p. 2902-2916 15 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Open Access
    File
    4 Downloads (Pure)
  • The broad-band view of the bare Seyfert PG 1426+015: relativistic reflection, the soft excess, and the importance of oxygen

    Walton, D. J., Madathil-Pottayil, A., Kosec, P., Jiang, J., Garcia, J., Fabian, A. C., Pinto, C., Buisson, D. J. K., Parker, M. L., Alston, W. N. & Reynolds, C. S., 30 Sept 2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 543, 3, p. 2633-2648 16 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Open Access
    File
    1 Citation (Scopus)
    9 Downloads (Pure)
  • Millihertz oscillations near the innermost orbit of a supermassive black hole

    Masterson, M., Kara, E., Panagiotou, C., Alston, W. N., Chakraborty, J., Burdge, K., Ricci, C., Laha, S., Arcavi, I., Arcodia, R., Cenko, S. B., Fabian, A. C., García, J. A., Giustini, M., Ingram, A., Kosec, P., Loewenstein, M., Meyer, E. T., Miniutti, G. & Pinto, C. & 5 others, Remillard, R. A., Sadaula, D. R., Shuvo, O. I., Trakhtenbrot, B. & Wang, J., 13 Feb 2025, In: Nature. 638, p. 370-375 6 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Open Access
    File
    26 Citations (Scopus)
    75 Downloads (Pure)
  • Effects of ultrafast outflows on X-ray time lags in active galactic nuclei

    Xu, Y., Pinto, C., Kara, E., Bianchi, S., Alston, W. & Tombesi, F., 3 Dec 2024, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Astronomy & Astrophysics. 692, p. 1-11 11 p., A78.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Open Access
    File
    1 Citation (Scopus)
    12 Downloads (Pure)