Beyond the Thomas-Fermi Approximation for Nonlinear Dynamics of Trapped Bose-Condensed Gases

We present an analytical approximation for nonlinear dynamics of trapped Bose-co ndensed gases. The new approximation is a substantial improvement over the Thomas-Fermi approximation and is shown to be applicable for systems with a rather small number of atoms $N$. The calculated aspect ratios after ballistic expansion are found to be in good agreement with those observed in recent experiments.