Horizontal spacing in “align” mode

I write gamma symbol with indices in normal math mode as follows;

\documentclass[12pt]{article}

\usepackage{amsmath}

\begin{document}

$$\Gamma^{\alpha} \\ _{\mu \nu}$$

\end{document}


This is the right placement of indices I want. But when I use the same spacing command "\\" in align mode, it breaks the line instead of putting same horizontal space. I don't want to use other spacing commands like "\," since they put more spaces then I want. My question is: Is there a way that I can put the same amount of horizontal space as "\\" to the same place in my gamma symbol in align mode? I will be glad if you can help.

\\ inside $...$ (which is to be preferred over $$...$$) is not allowed and it indicates the end of line if ever allowed. To leave a space you can use an empty atom {} like

{\alpha}{}_


Code:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}

\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}
$%% no blank line to be left % %% don't use  \Gamma^{\alpha}_{\mu \nu} \text{ and }\Gamma^{\alpha}{}_{\mu \nu} %$
\end{document}


You can also use \, as in {\alpha}\,_` though, Id not recommend it.