The purpose of this preliminary work is to determine if Large Magellanic Cloud ( LMC ) Cepheids have stellar winds .
If a Cepheid undergoes mass loss then at some distance from the star , a fraction of the gas becomes dust , which causes an infrared excess .
Mass loss is tested using OGLE II optical observations and SAGE infrared observations for a sample of 488 Cepheids .
The resultant mass-loss rates range from 10 ^ { -12 } to 10 ^ { -7 } M _ { \odot } / yr .
Using the mass–loss model we compute infrared stellar luminosities for the sample of Cepheids and compare predicted infrared PL relations with observed relations .
The predicted relations not only vary from the observed relations , implying mass loss plays a significant role , but also show evidence for non-linearity .
It is determined that mass loss is important for LMC Cepheids .