  We present a state-of-the-art scenario for newly born magnetars as strong
sources of Gravitational Waves (GWs)in the early days after formation. We
address several aspects of the astrophysics of rapidly rotating,
ultramagnetized neutron stars (NSs), including early cooling before transition
to superfluidity, the effects of the magnetic field on the equilibrium shape of
NSs, the internal dynamical state of a fully degenerate, oblique rotator and
the strength of the electromagnetic torque on the newly born NS. We show that
our scenario is consistent with recent studies of SNRs surrounding AXPs and
SGRs in the Galaxy that constrain the electromagnetic energy input from the
central NS to be <= 10^51 erg. We further show that if this condition is met,
then the GW signal from such sources is potentially detectable with the
forthcoming generation of GW detectors up to Virgo cluster distances where an
event rate <= 1/yr can be estimated. Finally, we point out that the decay of an
internal magnetic field in the 10^16 G range couples strongly to the NS cooling
at very early stages, thus significantly slowing down both processes: the field
can remain this strong for at least 10^3 yrs, during which the core temperature
stays higher than several times 10^8 K.
