THE EVOLUTION OF LYMAN$\alpha$ FOREST CLOUDS AT z > 2

Using the Keck 10 m telescope data with the HIRES spectrograph, we analyzed the evolution of Lyman$\alpha$ forest clouds at z > 2 down to the HI column density $10^{12.8}cm^{-2}$. The number density per unit column density does not change with redshifts at lower HI cloumn density ($N_{HI} < 10^{14}cm^{-2}$), while the forest clouds at higher column density disappear rapidly. The cutoff b value, the thermal temperature indicator, increases as redshift decreases. The correlation strength seems to be stronger as redshift decreases.