Aiming to construct a simple stochastic model able to describe systems alternating due to state-dependent dichotomous noise, we consider a generalized telegraph process whose sample-paths fluctuates around the zero state. Indeed, the latter process describes the motion of a particle on the real line, which is characterized by constant velocities and state-dependent intensities that vanish when the motion is toward the origin. This assumption allows to adopt an approach based on renewal theory to obtain formal expressions of the forward and backward transition densities of the process. The special case when certain random times of the motion possess gamma distribution leads to closed-form expressions of the transition densities, given in terms of the generalized Mittag-Leffler function. We also analyze a first-passage-time problem for the considered process in the presence of two constant boundaries.
Keywords: constant boundaries; first-passage-time problem; gamma distribution; generalized Mittag-Leffler function; intensity function; interarrival times; random motion; telegraph process.