returning a class of the current type

Say I have the following:

<?php
class a {
function copy()
{
return new a();
}
}

class b extends a {
function test()
{
echo 'test';
}
}

$b = new b();
$b = $b->copy();
$b->test();

That'll yield an error because $b, after calling a::copy(), is of type
a - not of type b. Would it be possible to make a::copy() return an
object not of type a but of whatever the top most class is?
.

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