The (1 x 1)-> quasihexagonal (HEX) phase transition on a clean Pt(100) surface was investigated by monitoring the time evolution of the Pt4f(7/2) core level photoemission spectra. The spectral component originating from the atoms forming the (1 x .1) metastable unreconstructed surface was found at -570 +/- 20 meV with respect to the bulk peak. Ab initio calculations based on density functional theory confirmed the experimental assignment. At temperatures above 370 K, the (1 x 1) phase irreversibly reverts to the more stable HEX phase, characterized by a surface core level shifted component at -185 +/- 40 meV. By analyzing the intensity evolution of the core level components, measured at different temperatures in the range of 393-475 K, we determined the activation energy of the phase transformation, E=0.76 +/- 0.04 eV. This value is considerably lower than the one previously determined by means of low energy electron diffraction. Possible reasons for this discrepancy are discussed
