Can a function return a pointer to its own type?

I've implemented a very minimal finite state machine in a class, and my original approach was to try this:

class Widget {
public:
  void update(float time_interval){ state_(time_interval); }
private:
  std::function<  ??  > off_(float);
  std::function<  ??  > standby_(float);
  std::function<  ??  > locked_(float);

  std::function<  ??  > state_; // initialised to off_
};

Each state is a function which returns a state. But I can't work out how to declare a function whose return type includes its return type. Is there a way to break the recursion?

Instead, I used an enum class and an ugly switch statement.