I am trying to replicate an automata with tikz and was wondering if there is a keyword that would allow be to mimic the position of the states with relative positioning without a "dummy" node. Below is my current solution with a blank node and an image of what I am trying to replicate the state positions of:
\documentclass[12pt,letterpaper]{article}
\usepackage[margin=1in]{geometry}
\usepackage{fancyhdr, float}
\usepackage{amsmath, amssymb, amsthm}
\usepackage{cleveref}
\usepackage{algorithm2e}
\usepackage{enumerate}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{automata,positioning}
\renewcommand{\a}{\mathtt{a}}
\renewcommand{\b}{\mathtt{b}}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[shorten >=1pt,node distance=2cm,on grid,auto]
\node[state,initial] (A_2) {$A_2$};
\node (Z) [right=of A_2] {};
\node[state,accepting] (B_2) [right=of Z] {$B_2$};
\node[state] (C_2) [below=of Z] {$C_2$};
\path[->]
(A_2) edge [bend left=15] node {$\varepsilon$} (B_2)
edge [swap] node {$\a$} (C_2)
(B_2) edge [bend left=15] node {$\a$} (A_2)
(C_2) edge [loop right] node {$\b$} ()
edge [swap] node {$\a,\b$} (B_2);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}