  We study strongly correlated phases of a pseudo-spin-1/2 Bose gas in an
artificial gauge field using the exact diagonalization method. The atoms are
confined in two dimensions and interact via a two-body contact potential. In
Abelian gauge fields, pseudo-spin singlets are favored by pseudo-spin
independent interactions. We find a series of incompressible phases at fillings
\nu=2k/3. By comparison with the non-Abelian spin singlet (NASS) states,
constructed as zero-energy eigenstates of a (k+1)-body contact interaction, we
classify the non-trivial topology of the states. An additional spin-orbit
coupling is shown to switch between NASS-like states and spin-polarized phases
from the Read-Rezayi series.
